Anything But Normal (old shit)
by ZetsubouAi
Summary: Gaara and Kankuro have transferred to a high school in Texas, while Temari is off at college. Can they find any friends? Can they KEEP any friends?
1. Introductions

**I don't own Gaara or Kankuro or Temari, but Lu is mine.**

Sand siblings in modern time, they move to Texas because Temari wants to go to college in the US. Kankuro and Gaara are left going to a normal high school in which they don't really fit in, being from a foreign desert. Story switches perspective of three different third-person limited viewpoints: Kankuro, Gaara, and Lucretia. Temari is in existence, but not in the story, as she is in college and has left Kankuro and Gaara by themselves for now. Kankuro and Gaara have similar attitudes for the most part, except for Gaara's past, which is given a little bit of a more normal explanation revealed in the story itself. Lucretia and her friends are very loosely modeled after my friends and me.

Chapter 1: Introductions

Kankuro sighed heavily. He was on the phone with Temari, who by now had already moved into the dorms of the college. She wasn't going to stay with them.

"I can't stay there! The commute would cost too much money. If I stay in the dorms, I can just walk. I'm sorry Kankuro, but you and Gaara will just have to deal with living by yourselves."

He didn't like this; the three of them had always been together in everything. They had all become very close since then. At first it was just him and Temari, but eventually Gaara came around and realized that they were always there for him. The sand siblings were probably much closer to each other than most brothers and sisters.

"Fine then. Work hard so you can get college over with as soon as possible. I'm not going to go. Gaara probably won't either. I don't know why we had to leave the desert to begin with."

"You may not think it's important, but I do."

To Kankuro, she sounded like she was trying to be a mother again. It annoyed him deeply. She was not much older than him. But he remembered that it was the same thing when he tried to be like a father to Gaara.

"And telling me to work hard," she chuckled, "you apparently don't know who you're talking to, huh?"

"Oh, shut up," Kankuro snapped back. "Just…you better do well."

"Okay, okay…I get it. Don't worry. If I were you I'd be more worried about Gaara and myself going to a public high school. Neither of you have any idea what to expect. I hope that the kids aren't to mean to you two."

"We'll be fine. Worry about yourself," he replied. He was worried though. Especially about Gaara. He could ignore people when they were being annoying and rude, but Gaara…Gaara could get violent sometimes. And as small and weak he looked, he was pretty scary to get into a fight with. Kankuro would never attempt to fight him. He knew his brother's combat ability.

"Whatever. Well, I'm going to go now; I'm meeting up with some friends later, so I need to get ready. Bye."

"Bye."

Gaara just silently watched his brother on the phone. From his expression after hanging up and seeing Gaara standing there, he apparently had no idea that Gaara had been standing there the whole time. Kankuro started to speak, but before he could, Gaara turned and walked out of the room. He didn't care what his brother had to say. He was concentrating on the thought of high school. Gaara wasn't very pleased with the idea of being in a large building with hundreds of other people. And adults. He shuddered. Gaara had never had any pleasant experiences with adults. His mother dieing in childbirth because of him, his father always resented him. Then when his father attempted to murder him…just icing on top of the cake. Kankuro and Temari might have felt sorrow when their father turned up dead, killed by his own "ally," but Gaara felt nothing. Well, maybe not "nothing." He felt something, but it was definitely not sorrow. It was more like happiness. Not quite, but a similar feeling.

"You know, your silence is disturbing. I never know what you're thinking. And with the look in your eyes, I feel like you're going to kill me if I turn my back on you."

Gaara's aquamarine eyes shot Kankuro an icy cold glare, but quickly changed to staring at his feet when he saw the smirk on his brother's face. Kankuro did know what he was thinking, he always did. He knew Gaara better than anyone.

"Sorry, I'm just…I'm worried about going to school. I don't want to be around all those people. I don't think anything good will come out of it."

His brother chuckled, "You worry to much. I'm more worried that someone will say something and either of us will react in a way that will get us in trouble. I don't know exactly their policy on things like that, but I'm sure neither of us can react the same way we usually do when certain things are said."

"Yeah…I guess," Gaara sighed. He didn't really know why he was so worried about this. He'd been through much worse. Kankuro too. Not quite as much as himself, but they both knew some of the same pains.

Gaara turned and walked to his room, he needed to get a lot of sleep for the next day. He'd been staying up so much lately thinking and worrying. He wanted to be refreshed before attempting school.

Kankuro awoke to what he considered the most annoying sound, the beeping of his alarm clock. Wiping the sleep from his eyes, he slowly sat up and then pounded on the wall to make sure Gaara woke up on time. The grunt and the kick to the wall from the other side told him that he hadn't woken up yet. 'Great,' he thought, 'now he'll get mad or something because I woke him up.'

He sighed and got out of bed, tripping a little on the sheets, which seemed to have wrapped around his legs during his uneasy sleep. He cursed quietly, and then stumbled over towards his closet to get dressed. He grabbed a pair of worn jeans, a t-shirt, and his crimson cat-eared jacket and quickly dressed himself so he could go and make breakfast.

Mussing up his hair, he made his way to the kitchen, in which, to his surprise, Gaara was up and dressed and making breakfast. Gaara was wearing his usual eyeliner and mesh top with jeans and skate shoes. Kankuro looked him up and down and sighed again.

"I think you should put another shirt on for school, or at least one over the mesh."

"Fine," Gaara replied without looking up from the skillet. He was making scrambled eggs.

"Well, if you're making breakfast, I'm going to fix myself a little more. You seem to have already done so yourself, seeing as you already have the eyeliner on."

"Whatever," he remarked, again without looking up from the pan.

Kankuro walked back to his room and got his face paint out, but paused before putting it on in his usual fashion. 'Do people here use face paint?' he asked himself. He had no idea. In the desert, it was common, but he had no idea about in Texas. He decided to tone it down a lot today, just a small amount around his eyes, a little moving towards his temples, and just a bit on his forehead. He hoped it wouldn't be to out of place.

Lucretia pulled the heavy classroom door open and walked inside the Physics room.

"Damn, I swear that thing gets heavier every day," she said to herself. "First person in here again…jeez, I have no life or something." She sat down in her usual seat: in the back where no one ever sat with her. She wished at least one of her friends were in the class with her, but they didn't ever take the kinds of classes she did. They were all in the technology type classes, not art and science type classes. She hoped that the new kids that she heard were coming that day would be interesting enough and maybe she'd be able to make friends with them.

The five-minute bell rang, and the rest of her class started filing into the room. She watched everyone come in, but she didn't see any new faces. Maybe the new kids would come in later, the guessed. Her teacher finally came in the room, right before the late bell rang. Like usual, almost all the desks were full, since her class was almost full itself, and the only desks with no one in them were the ones right around her. Lucretia really didn't care if the people shunned her, she just wished she had someone to talk to or work with when they could work together, which was almost all the time. The class was a tough class, but the teacher was very laid back and after notes, they spent the rest of the time socializing and/or doing the homework.

"Apparently, by the talk I've heard from you guys, you all know that we are getting two new students today. I expect you to be decent towards them. They aren't from anywhere around here, so they are already going to be out of place. I don't want to hear any trash talking."

She couldn't see it, but she knew that almost the whole class rolled their eyes at this. This class wasn't the best for new students. It was full of rich kids and stuck up kids. At least Lucretia had the ability to make friends with new kids easily. But the rest of the self-centered teenagers in the class, they were the same ones who shunned her ever since she changed schools in elementary school. None of them had grown up. Still, she didn't care. She was only thinking about the new kids and if they were boys or girls or what. She hoped they were boys. At least one of them. Lucretia got along with boys better anyways. They were usually immature, but boys were never as catty as girls could be.

Lucretia was so lost in thought, she almost didn't notice when the door opened and the principal came in with two people she didn't recognize. At first she was a little confused, because the taller or the two was wearing purple makeup, and the shorter one, she couldn't tell if it was a slightly effeminate boy or a boyish looking girl, since that kid was wearing makeup too.

"Class, these are the new students, Kankuro and Gaara."

"What the hell kind of names are those?" an especially stupid jock named Rick yelled out.

"Watch your language, young man," Mr. Kevin, her teacher, replied, "and that is an impolite question." He cleared his throat and continued, "As I was saying, these two are your new classmates, and you should treat them like you would treat anyone else in this classroom."

'More like they'll treat them like they treat me,' thought Lucretia. She looked closely at the smaller teen, which she realized now was a boy, and thought, 'He's kind of cute. A little pale, but still cute.' He looked to be even shorter than she herself was, which was a little strange to her because she was fairly short herself. The boy had deep red colored hair, the color she wished she had, and beautiful aquamarine eyes. The dark eyeliner drew her attention to them more. Then she noticed the small tattoo on the left side of his forehead, a small red heart. 'How cute,' she thought. His clothes were in a similar style to her own, as he was wearing a dark red, almost black, colored t-shirt with a dark pair of jeans and finished it off with a pair of black skating shoes. What was odd, yet interesting, though, was the black mesh undershirt he was wearing.

Lucretia then turned her attention to the taller boy, ignoring Mr. Kevin's lecturing, and looked him over. He was definitely larger in frame then the other boy. He was probably about average in his height and build, not too big, but not scrawny. His hair was a normal brownish-dark blond color, a little bit longer in length than the boy standing next to him. It was messy looking, but the look suited him. The next thing she noticed was the purple makeup on his face. His eyes were outlined in purple, and the line of color was drawn out from the corner of his eyes towards his temples, giving the same look as to the eyes on Egyptian drawings. He also had a triangular shape on his forehead coming out from under his hair and stopping in between his eyebrows. It was then she noticed his eyes themselves. They were the truest royal blue she had ever seen. They were so blue, it was unnatural looking. His attire was, like the other boy, darker colors, but it had a more comical and laid-back feel with the cat ears on the crimson colored zip up jacket. He also wore jeans, but they were very worn and broken-in looking, like they were worn many times. His shoes were a very worn pair of red and black skate shoes, which matched the rest of his outfit quite well.

Despite the worried look in his eyes and on the other's face, he was smirking. Hand on one hip, he was attempting to give the impression that he was unfazed by coming into a new school and having approximately 25 pairs of eyes on him at one time. 'He's pretty good looking,' Lucretia thought to herself. Now she was kind of glad that the only seats open were the ones near her. Those two didn't really have a choice but to sit with her.

Kankuro nervously stood at the front of the classroom. He was able to hide his fear and the fact that he was uncomfortable, but he knew Gaara wouldn't be able to. The outburst from one of the boys about their names just made things worse. He could sense the uneasiness leaking from his little brother. 'Please just let us sit down!' he screamed in his head. The man wouldn't stop talking. Kankuro assumed that he had to be the teacher of the class. He sighed inwardly and looked around the classroom. He noticed how there were few empty seats, and all of them were around one solitary girl sitting in the back. Despite her lack of companionship, he didn't sense any unhappiness. In fact, she seemed happy about sitting with a bunch of empty desks. She was a strange looking girl, or at least, she had a different overall appearance than most of the other girls. Unlike the other fair-haired girls that had more stuff on their faces then he ever did, this girl had a normal hair color similar to his own, and the only makeup she wore was dark eyeliner, similar to Gaara's, along with a pair of small, but thick black plastic framed glasses. Also, her clothing was different. While most of the girls wore sandals and short skirts with skimpy little tops, this girl wore jeans and a dark t-shirt, with several rings and bracelets.

Unlike the other girls' long, straight perfect hair, her hair was relatively short and pulled back into perfectly placed pigtails, but the hair itself was messy looking, and she had bangs pulled down, cut straight across along her eyebrows. The overall look made her appear somewhat like a puppy in a way. He smirked a little at that thought.

Kankuro looked around the room again, noticing that all the other girls in the class looked like clones almost, all with the same expression, the same makeup, the same types of clothes, the same hair…it all made the one girl in the back stand out even more. He looked back at her. Their eyes met, and he quickly looked away. He didn't know why. Maybe it was just the uncomfortable atmosphere.

After a long-winded lecture from the teacher, Kankuro and his brother made their way towards the empty seats in the back of the class. Kankuro could feel everyone's eyes burning into him and Gaara. He wanted to get to a seat and get their attention off of him as soon as possible.

He sat down in the seat next to the girl, and Gaara took the seat behind him. Kankuro turned to the girl and asked her what her name was.

"Lucretia," she said. "My friends usually just call me Lu."

"Oh, hi then. I'm Kankuro, and this is my little brother Gaara," he replied, pointing towards Gaara sitting behind him.

"I thought you two looked related," she said, smirking. "Don't mind the idiots in this class. They still bug me about my name, and I've known most of them for several years. I think your names are pretty neat."

"Thanks," Kankuro replied, "the others seem very…stiff, if you know what I mean."

"Yeah," she sighed, "they're always like that to people who aren't another one of their clones. That and you both do have makeup on. Boys don't usually wear makeup in Texas."

"Oh…" he said, cursing himself for putting on any paint at all.

"But don't worry. Their opinion doesn't matter. I never listen to them. Besides, I think it looks cool. I love the color purple. And eyeliner on guys is pretty neat," the latter she said to Gaara. Gaara looked up and nodded his thanks and quickly went back to staring uncomfortably at the floor. Kankuro felt bad for him. Not only did he never seem to fit in anywhere, but here it was exaggerated even more.

"Don't mind him," Kankuro assured the girl after seeing the hurt look on her face. "He's a very…closed person. He'll open up eventually, most likely."

"Oh, okay. Well, we better pay attention to notes. Mr. Kevin doesn't like it when people don't listen to him. We can talk later, during work time. Here, take my notes from yesterday. We were in the middle of a section. If you get lost, I'll try to help. I'm fairly smart. I make a better grade than anyone else in the class, at any rate."

With that last bit, Lucretia laughed and handed Kankuro some papers. He nodded his thanks and quickly started to copy what was on her paper, and then what was on the board.

Gaara just silently glared at the back of his older brother's head. He was already making friends, and with this strange girl, too; the only other person in the class besides the two of them that didn't really look like they belonged. Between the makeup, his mesh undershirt, Kankuro's cat-eared jacket, this girl's boyish clothing, and all of her rings and bracelets, the three of them stuck out from the rest of the class like white and black.

But it wasn't whom Kankuro was making friends with that bothered him. It was the fact that he immediately was able to just talk to her and make a friend, while everyone else just glared at them and whispered to each other, and all he concentrated on was trying to ignore and avoid all the stares and whispers. He knew eventually his brother would make him be more sociable, but thankfully, that time was not now, since he seemed to be occupied with copying the girl's notes that she handed him. Gaara didn't really know what to do, so he just sat there and listened to the man at the front of the room. He had an extraordinary memory anyways. He could remember something after hearing or reading it just once. Gaara had no need to write anything down, and the teacher didn't seem to notice, so he just sat there in silence and soaked it all in.

Gaara sighed silently when the man had stopped the lecture. The students all started talking at once. He caught bits and pieces of their meaningless conversations, most of them about boyfriends, girlfriends, and the next big party at their friend's house. None of that meant much to Gaara, nor did it interest him any at all.

"So, where are you from?"

Gaara looked up at the girl's voice, and realized that she was talking to him.

"A desert," he replied coldly.

"Uh, o-okay…" The girl looked uneasy and surprised by his detachment from conversation.

"C'mon Gaara, you can be a little nicer than that. She is the only hospitable person in the room, you know?"

Gaara just glared at his older brother, pleading in his eyes to let him be and not make him join into a conversation. Kankuro seemed to get the hint, and he just sighed heavily and turned back to the girl as the started to work together on the work that had been assigned.

'That's odd,' thought Gaara. 'He isn't as reserved as me, but he usually isn't this quick to make friends either.' A little confused at the situation, Gaara shook it off and started to work on the homework by himself, not wanting to ask for any aid from his brother, and definitely not that girl.

"Lucretia," he said to himself. He realized he said it out loud, but thankfully he was quiet enough that she didn't hear him. 'It's a strange name…but, she probably is thinking the same thing about us. But, she did remark about how the other students thought her name was strange, so it must be an unusual name even here,' Gaara thought as he started to work. The work was incredibly easy, though it was only his first day in a public high school. Temari had taught him and his brother quite well at their old home though. She thought it was important to have knowledge and learn and things like that. Which was why the three of them had moved in the first place. She finally was old enough to attend a US college, and was definitely smart enough.

Gaara sighed inwardly and finished up the last of the work. He looked at the clock. 'Great,' he thought. 'Still have 45 minutes in here…'

Lucretia enjoyed herself while working in class. She finally had someone to talk to. And not only that, but he was someone interesting, someone that she didn't already know. She did have plenty of fun with her friends, but it sometimes got a little too predictable. They all knew each other very well. It was hard to hide anything from or lie to each other. But this kid, he was someone new. Which made everything much more interesting than if she was talking to one of her close friends. They knew nothing about each other, so they had plenty to talk about.

She asked him at least a hundred questions. Lucretia was interested in finding out whatever she could. Of course, she answered similar questions he directed back towards her. 'Finally an interesting day in this class,' she thought. Three weeks into school and it was all one boring day after another. But now she had someone to talk to, so she was a lot happier about the rest of the school year. She asked Kankuro what other classes he and his brother were taking.

"Well, both of us are in all the same classes, which is what I requested," He leaned closer to her and whispered, "He doesn't deal to well on his own. I'm afraid to leave him alone for such a long time, because I don't know what might happen."

"I heard that," interrupted Gaara, followed by an icy stare.

Kankuro met his glare with an apologetic look, and then turned back towards Lucretia.

"Well, anyways, after this one we have a drawing class, and then after that we have a free lunch period, and then we have a US Literature class."

Lucretia's face lit up as she exclaimed, "Really?! I have the same schedule! I can show you around then."

"Great!" Kankuro smiled back at her. Lucretia looked back at the younger brother '…Gaara, yeah, that's his name,' she thought. 'I'm glad he's in my classes too. I want to get to know him. He's so mysterious, I love it! I can't wait to get to know him.'

Lucretia wasn't sure why, but whenever she looked at the small framed boy, she felt a light twinge in her heart. She was really hoping to eventually get him to open up. Just then, the bell rang and all the students quickly got up and ran out the door. Lucretia took her time though; she wasn't in a hurry. She didn't want to lose the two brothers in the mess of students. She and Kankuro talked excitedly the whole way to their next class as Gaara silently and obediently followed, a look of uncertainty on his face.


	2. Skilled Artists

**I don't own Gaara or Kankuro or Temari, but Lu is mine.**

Chapter 2: Skilled Artists

"Now, I want you all to gather your creative thoughts…all of them…KEEP YOUR EYES CLOSED MR. EDMISTON….gathering….gather them all into a big ball of creativity….and now, I want you to all draw exactly what you are thinking of right now…GO!"

Gaara opened his eyes, and stared at his blank paper. He was a good artist, but he never really knew what to draw. He felt a presence behind him before she spoke.

"And why are you not drawing yet, hmm?" questioned Ms. Wright, the very strange middle age woman who called herself an art teacher. "I told you to draw what you were thinking of a moment ago. Do you not think, hmm? Do you not know how?"

Gaara just glared at his paper and softly said, "I…can't draw what I was thinking of."

"Oh, and WHY not, hmm?" she pressed.

He glanced around the room quickly before responding, making sure no one was listening to the conversation. "Because…I was thinking about my…father…"

"Then DRAW him how you were picturing him!" she nearly shouted. She was apparently getting annoyed at his blank paper.

"I can't…I just can't. Because…because…" he hesitated before adding the last bit, "I was picturing how he looked when I found him after he'd been murdered…"

Ms. Wright's eyes opened wide out of shock, and then she recovered and told him, "Then, draw that girl sitting in front of you then. Lucretia, you don't have a problem with that, do you, hmm?"

"Not at all," she responded, much to Gaara's annoyance. He really didn't want to draw her, because that would require him to look at her, and she upset him somehow. He sighed inwardly and began drawing. He calmed down a little when he felt the eyes that were previously looking over his shoulder left to check the other students. Gaara quickly sketched a silhouette of how she was positioned, and then proceeded to fill in the details. He was still upset about having to draw her though. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but he just didn't like being around her. Something just upset him about it all. Was it the fact that his brother chose to sit next to her instead of him? Kankuro had promised to stick with him. He was keeping his promise though. It's not like he was that far away from him. The three of them were the only ones at the four-person table, so it's not like he was separated from him. He glanced over at Kankuro, who was completely sucked into his drawing. Gaara looked at his brother's paper. He couldn't quite tell what he was drawing, but he knew it was a person, and from what he could see, it was a girl. 'Probably drawing Temari,' Gaara thought. Gaara was never that close to Temari, but Kankuro was. Just like Kankuro watched over him and was very close to him, Temari was like that to Kankuro. The bonds between the three sand siblings were strong.

Gaara put the finishing touches on his drawing and looked it over. It was almost a perfect portrait of the girl bent over her own paper, as she was drawing the whole time too. Though, he wasn't impressed with the drawing himself. He could draw something like this anytime. Gaara surveyed the room, noticing that many of the students were finishing up their own drawings. The teacher must have noticed this too, because the then told them that in a few minutes everyone would, in turn, talk about their drawing. Gaara sighed inwardly again at that thought. He didn't want to talk about the drawing, especially in front of so many people.

He silently listened to all the other students drabble on about their dog or their boyfriend or their girlfriend or something irrelevant, and Ms. Wright eventually made her way over to his table. First, Lucretia talked about her drawing, a highly detailed picture of a fish, her pet butterfly koi named Roxie. Gaara rolled his eyes at this, but he had to acknowledge that it was a very good drawing; it was almost like a photograph. Then he had to get up and explain his picture.

He silently stood up and held up his picture and quickly said, "I couldn't think of anything to draw, so I drew her like the teacher told me to." Then he quickly sat back down and looked at his feet. He didn't want to make eye contact with anyone.

Then Kankuro finally stood up, and he smirked as he held up his drawing. Gaara's eyes opened wide with anger when he saw what he had drawn.

"I drew Lu over here, because she's an interesting person, and the only person here so far to make friends with me."

Gaara glared at his brother with hatred burning in his eyes. Kankuro met his death glare, and only smiled.

Lucretia was shocked that the brown-haired boy had drawn her. She hadn't expected it at all. She smiled a little, but her eyes flashed towards the small red-haired boy, and she quickly stopped. The anger in the young boy's eyes scared her. She had no idea why he was giving off such an angry vibe. She looked back at Kankuro, who only flashed his brother a smile and then he winked at her. She felt a little more relieved, but as he sat down, she felt Gaara's murderous glare turn on her. She looked at the floor, a little embarrassed, and also scared. Thankfully just then the bell rang. She quickly got up and started towards the door, anything to get away from that anger.

She almost made it to the door when a hand grabbed her arm and pulled her back. She squealed, fearing that it was Gaara, closed her eyes, and just stood there.

"Hey, Lu, why are you rushing out of here?" Kankuro said. His voice calmed her. She opened her eyes and looked at him. He leaned in a little closer and said, "I think I know why, and if I'm right, just ignore it. Don't let him get to you. I don't anymore."

She looked from him over to Gaara, who was gathering his things and glaring at the two of them. She knew that he wasn't happy about whatever interaction between his brother and her. Kankuro pulled her back towards him.

"Really, don't worry about it. He's always like this. I'll try to talk to him," he reassured her. Somehow what he said made everything better. It made her forget the fear. But the fear was replaced with something else. She glanced back at the small-framed pale boy, and she felt another twinge in her heart. She wished the boy wasn't so hostile towards her. She wanted to get to know him better. But she couldn't seem to get him to open up.

Kankuro asked Lucretia where they could meet up during the lunch period, because he needed to talk to his brother alone really quick. After she left to go wait for them right outside the front of school, he pulled Gaara over to the side quickly.

"What is your problem!? She's the only person that's been decent to us since we got here! You're not being very nice. All she wanted to do was to make friends with us, and you are messing it up by getting like you used to be. I thought that was the past."

Kankuro glared at his little brother, and Gaara pulled back a little at his words. He might have gone a little to far, but he was tired of Gaara's hostility towards the only person that was kind to them so far, and probably would be the only one at this rate. Gaara looked away towards the ground, avoiding his brother's eyes.

"I'm…sorry. I don't know why I am getting annoyed by her. I'm not even sure that's what it is. I don't know what it is. I feel…something. Something I haven't felt in a while. But I'm not sure what it is…please don't make me talk to her though. I know you will try, but I don't want to agitate whatever the feeling is." Gaara looked up at his brother, who now looked at him with an apologetic and confused expression.

"Okay…just….just be a little nicer to her. She hasn't done anything wrong, has she? I'll let you open up at your open up at your own pace, if you promise to be nicer to her."

"Fine," Gaara snapped, "just let me go and let's go."

"Fine, fine. Let's go."

The two brothers walked off together towards the front of the school.

Lucretia saw the brothers coming in her direction, and she waved at them. Kankuro waved back and jogged up to her, while Gaara silently continued walking on after him. She hoped his talk, whatever it was, was successful. She still felt a little uneasy, but Kankuro looked at her and seemed to say that things were going to be alright.

"So, where should we go?" Lucretia asked him. "This school has an open campus for lunch, and it's even better since we're lucky enough to have a full period for lunch." Kankuro gave her a puzzled look.

"Open campus?"

"It means we can leave the school grounds for lunch," she said while laughing. "We can get food here or outside the school, we can go to the park, we can just sit outside the school, anything."

"Oh, okay." He looked back at Gaara, who by now was standing quietly next to his brother, with a blank look on his face. "Hey Gaara, what do you think we should do?" he asked.

"I don't know…why don't you two just go somewhere. I think I'm going to wander around the school a little or something."

Lucretia was a little disappointed, but she smiled and said, "Okay, sure. C'mon Kankuro. Let's go to the park. They have food there."

Kankuro looked at Gaara really quick and then nodded at her and they walked off leaving Gaara alone.

Gaara watched as his brother and the girl walked towards the door and then finally outside. He suddenly found himself wishing he had gone with them, but he tossed the feeling aside and began to walk. He wasn't sure where he was going, but he just needed to walk. He circled the school a few times, and memorized the layout and the room numbers and where they were all located. He continued to walk around, not being able to get the thought of the girl out of his head. He didn't know why she was stuck in there, or why he got so mad at the interaction between her and his brother. He just pushed his thoughts aside and told himself that he was just upset because it was usually just his brother and him and he wasn't used to another person, because Temari was there, but he never really noticed her. She didn't bother him like this.

Gaara sighed loudly as he began another lap around the school, and pushed all these thoughts from his mind. He concentrated on the past. What Kankuro said to him really affected him.

'You are messing it up by getting like you used to be. I thought that was the past.'

That was a little out of line, but he was right. He always was. Kankuro knew him better than anyone else ever had. He always tried to make him be a better person. Make him be able to accept others. Kankuro had helped him a lot, yes, and he was right about him reverting back to his old self. Gaara just wasn't ready to accept another person. That had to be it. It couldn't be anything else. It couldn't be.

Kankuro worried a little about Gaara. He really hated to leave him like that. But, he seemed to know what he was doing. He pushed Gaara from his mind and focused on the strange girl sitting next to him on the bench. He realized that she had finished eating and she was just looking at him. Staring, actually.

"What?" he asked. She jumped a little, not realizing that she had just been staring at him.

"I…uh…I mean…er…why are you wearing a jacket with kitty ears?"

He laughed at her and said, "Because, I just am." He smiled at her, "I don't know, I just like them I guess." She just laughed at him and then she leaned back and relaxed on the bench.

"You're so strange," she said.

"Look who's talking."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Lu, seriously. I may think that everyone here is strange, and they all think I'm strange, but I'm not from here, so that's expected. But, people think you're weird, and you are from here, so you must be the real weird one."

"So you are thinking like the clones now!?" she snapped. She quickly turned towards him to find him laughing at her. "Oh, I see how it is then," and with that she punched him hard in the side and shoved him off the bench.

"Ow, hey!" Kankuro looked up at her, and she had a playful look in her eyes. 'Jeez…she hits pretty hard…' he thought. "That wasn't nice, you know."

"Oh yeah, well, deal with it, ya sissy!"

He grunted and pulled himself back onto the bench. He looked at her; she was still smirking, and had a peculiar look in her eye. Kankuro noticed the color of her eyes for the first time then. At first they seemed grayish, but when he looked closer, they were blue color, almost like the color of old denim, a blue with gray undertones. He looked closer and saw that inside the blue, there were flecks of a dark brownish green.

He pushed her back, playfully, but she was laughing so much that she lost her balance. She grabbed his jacket to try to stop herself, but he only fell with her, since it happened so fast that he didn't have time to brace himself or to catch her. The both fell of the bench together, and he landed on top of her. Kankuro regained his thoughts and quickly got up and dusted himself off. He turned a little red in the face and then offered to help her back up.

"Sorry about that," He said.

"Oh, no. It's my fault. I don't know why I lost my balance like that."

Kankuro looked at her, and then they both laughed for several minutes.

"It's about time to be getting back to school now," Lucretia said. "So let's go, m'kay?"

He smiled and nodded back at her. The two of them got up and started walking back towards the school. 'Just one more class left today,' he thought. 'One more, and then Gaara and I can go home and I can talk to him about what's happened so far.' He glanced over at Lucretia, and wondered where the "friends who call her Lu" were.

Gaara wandered around the school so many times he lost count. His thought pattern had long since been destroyed. He was more or less just a mindless zombie at this point. But that didn't matter. He knew that it was about time for those two to be getting back. He made his way to the front of the school, keeping an eye out for the two of them.

He waited only a few minutes before they came into view. They were both smiling and laughing as they walked. He glared at them, but they wouldn't know it, since they were so far away. But, he quickly cleared the look off his face, because he had decided to go with Kankuro's promise. He would be nicer to her. He sighed heavily, and walked towards them. He walked up to them, and he could tell that she had an uneasy look, she still wasn't sure about how to act around him.

"We have ten minutes. Let's go."

Kankuro and Lucretia followed him as he lead the trio though the hallways. After all the times he went around the school, he knew exactly where he was going now. He turned to see them smiling and talking as they followed him. Gaara suddenly felt angry again, but quickly pushed it down. He turned back to face the hallway ahead of him. He silently pushed on towards their last class of the day.


	3. I Have Other Friends

**I don't own Gaara or Kankuro or Temari, but Lu is mine.**

Chapter 3: I Have Other Friends

Lucretia followed Gaara alongside Kankuro and they reached the door of the classroom. The three of them quickly slipped inside. Lucretia waved to her best friend, Maggie, who was sitting in the back with her boyfriend. She went towards them and she brought the two brothers with her.

"Hey Mag, these are the new kids! This is Kankuro and that is his younger brother Gaara."

Maggie and her boyfriend looked at each other, and then Maggie replied, "Well, they can sit with us I guess. We always are sitting by ourselves anyways."

Lucretia looked back at Kankuro, and he looked a little nervous and jokingly said, "I was wondering if you had any other friends."

Lucretia laughed and replied, "Well, I don't get to see Maggie and Joseph very often. Usually it's just this class and sometimes before and after school. I do have other friends you know. I'm not a loser." She shoved him playfully with that last bit, and then turned to Gaara, who was expressionless, and beckoned him over to sit. Lucretia took the seat next to Maggie, and Kankuro sat behind her and Gaara sat next to him, behind Maggie.

Kankuro looked Lucretia's friends over quickly. The girl, Maggie, was very small framed, but similar in height to Lucretia. She was wearing a pair of jeans and an oversized t-shirt, and no makeup at all. She seemed very quiet, like Gaara, and she wore a small pair of wire frame glasses. He turned his attention to the boy next to her, which was obviously her boyfriend with the fact that their hands were linked between their desks. He was similar in build as himself, maybe a little shorter. He was very average looking, and was wearing a plain shirt and jeans with a simple jacket. He also wore small wire frame glasses.

Lucretia turned around in her seat and started to say something, but just at that moment the teacher came in, and she immediately turned back around and kept silent. The teacher, a Mr. Bunker, was a large man, and sort of waddled as he walked around the room. Though his appearance was somewhat comical, his presence demanded silence and respect. He wrote furiously on the board, and then pointed to it and said, "This is your assignment today. Read the story in complete silence. If you can get through it without talking at all, then you can work on the questions together, but if I hear anyone talking, you are going to be working alone in complete silence."

Kankuro quickly opened his book and began reading.

Gaara was a fast reader, and he read through the whole assignment in just a few minutes. He pulled out his paper and pencil and began working on the problems. He didn't care about waiting for everyone else to finish. It wasn't like he needed anyone's help. Just then he felt eyes looking over his shoulder.

"What are you doing, young man?"

It was the teacher. He looked up and said, "I'm doing the work."

"You have to read the story first," Mr. Bunker said while giving him a very unhappy look.

"I have. I read very fast and have a good memory. So now I'm working on the questions."

"Hmph, let me see that paper," and with that he grabbed Gaara's paper and started reading what he had written. "Hmph, well it seems you have read the story, and these answers are decent. Fine, continue," and he walked off, handing Gaara's paper back to him. He glanced up at the teacher, and then quickly returned to his paper.

It wasn't long before most of the rest of the class had finished and started to work on the questions. The teacher eventually let up the silence rule and the class immediately started talking. The chatter of so many students distracted him, but he had already finished the work anyways. He looked up and saw his brother and Lucretia begin to work together, while the other girl, Maggie was her name, working with the boy next to her.

"Hey….hey Gaara. Are you finished already?" Lucretia asked.

"Uh, yeah. A little while ago I finished," he quietly replied.

"Oh, okay. Well, do you get question number three? I sure don't. Literature definitely isn't my best subject," she said, her face turning a little red. Gaara was a little puzzled at the fact that she was embarrassed about not being good at a class. He suspected it must be something else.

"Oh, yeah…uh…just, here. Look at my paper. I don't feel like explaining it."

"Okay. Thanks." She looked a little disappointed at the fact that he avoided having to talk to her. He didn't understand why. She kept trying to talk to him so much. She'd eventually just have to learn that he didn't want to talk. He didn't want to "get to know" anyone, and didn't want anyone to "get to know" him.

Lucretia accepted the paper, and turned towards Kankuro. He shook his head, telling her not to worry about it and to just ignore his lack of conversation. She leaned in closer to him and whispered, "I wish he was a little more open. I want to be friends with him, but he doesn't seem to want to talk to me at all."

"Look, just give him time. I'm sure he'll open up eventually," he said. "I'm his brother and it took me a few years to get him to talk to me. Gaara's had a rough past. He doesn't attach himself to anyone. In fact, I'm really the only one that's close to him. We have an older sister, but while I'm close to her, he's not. The relationship between them is very similar to how it is with everyone else."

"I just don't understand why he's so closed and dark," Lucretia said, a little worried. "I wish he would at least tell me why he doesn't want to talk to me."

"Lu," he sighed, "I told you. He's had a difficult life. Our mother died giving birth to him, and our father blamed him for it and would always say that he killed her. Not only that, but he…he attempted to kill Gaara once, and so did our uncle, mother's brother. It all went really wrong when Gaara retaliated and it killed our uncle. He didn't mean to, but even then it really messed him up. Not only that but everyone that lived around us called him 'monster' and avoided him." He looked at her with sad eyes. "He shut everyone out completely. Then one night our father was murdered. Gaara discovered him. Ever since then Gaara has changed. For the better I think. Gaara opened up a little to me then. And ever since that incident, we have become really close, but he's still shut everyone else out."

Lucretia processed all of this. It was horrible. She almost didn't believe Kankuro, but she doubted that he would be lying about this kind of thing. It certainly explained why he was so closed to people. She looked back at Kankuro and said, "That's horrible…now I feel bad for him."

"Don't," he said. "He doesn't want to be pitied. Just give him time, and you might get to him eventually." He smiled at her and said, "Now, we need to finish this stupid assignment."

She laughed and said, "Yeah, you're right." They both began to write, discussing the questions and answers each in turn.

Gaara looked at the two of them. Kankuro had told her the past. He had just outright told her. He looked away in anger. Kankuro seemed to think that Gaara hadn't heard him, but, in fact, he had heard every word. Gaara then realized that all his brother was doing was protecting him again. He was telling the girl the truth about the past so she would not try so hard to talk with him. Gaara shot his brother a sideways glance, and then sighed. 'I don't need you to fight my battles for me,' he thought. 'I can handle it myself.'

He sat there thinking for quite a while, and everyone seemed to be finishing up their work. The teacher then got up and walked to the front of the class and wrote the homework assignment on the board. Shortly after, the bell rang. 'Finally,' he thought, 'this day's over. It's been a long one. I hope they're all not like this.' And with that he got up with the rest of the students, and followed his brother out of the classroom. Kankuro was again walking with Lucretia, but this time the other two, her other friends, were there too. He noticed the two holding hands. He scoffed inwardly at this. Contact with others was pointless. He was just glad that his brother had never tried to do something so stupid. If he ever did, Gaara just knew that he wouldn't be able to look him in the eye anymore. He would be just like the others. Just like the ones that had hurt him. They all had fun together, but when he came around, they all stopped and ran. Not only that, but they took out their fear and anger on his siblings.

Kankuro said goodbye to her, and walked off towards their home. Gaara caught up with him and gave him a nasty look. "Why are you being so quick to make friends with her," he said, sneering. "You don't know if she's trustworthy or if she will betray you after you open up enough to get hurt."

Kankuro picked him up by the shirt and said, "Look, you may not care about making friends here, but I do. We won't get anywhere closing out everyone else. Sometimes you have to actually let people in. I have allowed myself to do that, why can't you?!"

Gaara was surprised by the anger in his voice. Kankuro didn't usually get mad at him like this. And he usually wasn't bold enough to attempt to boss him around like this. "Fine, you take your chances. I'm not going to," he said. "I don't want to take my chances with trusting anyone so quickly," he added.

"Whatever," and with that Kankuro put his little brother down. Gaara glared at him for a bit longer, and then eventually both of them continued to walk home.

Lucretia turned on her computer when she got home. She had so much to talk to her friends about that night. She logged into AIM and saw that Maggie was on, and immediately started up a conversation with her.

RusXKad: hey mag

Takkerz: Hey.

RusXKad: what did you think about those new kids?

Takkerz: Them? I thought they were a little odd. The one didn't talk hardly any at all, and the other had kitty ears on his jacket.

RusXKad: yeah, I think the jacket was cute though

Takkerz: -sigh- Whatever.

Takkerz: You seemed to hit it off with him though. You two talked the whole time when we were allowed to.

RusXKad: oh kankuro? well, he's easier to talk to than gaara

Takkerz: I think you liike him…ooo.

RusXKad: who, kankuro?

Takkerz: Yeah

RusXKad: i do not! he was just interesting to talk to for the first time, that's all

Takkerz: Suuure….-rolls eyes-

RusXKad: really. but, the other one…he's cute

Takkerz: Ah, so the truth comes out, does it? I knew you liked at least one of them XD

RusXKad: well, you are a pain. you know me to well

Takkerz: Of course

Takkerz: Well, I'm going to go now. I'm HUNGRY D:

RusXKad: okay, fine

RusXKad: bye

Takkerz: BAI

Takkerz logged off

She closed the window, and opened up Firefox. 'Time to surf a little,' she thought. The home page loaded, and she saw that she had a few messages, and one deviation. She checked them and replied and commented and then clicked the Myspace bookmark. She logged in and found that Joe had replied to her message. They talked back and forth on Myspace a lot. They didn't talk much at school, but they were friends nonetheless. She replied to him in the usual manner, and then began to check on all the web comics she read daily.

She then grabbed her journal and started to write. She wrote in her journal every day. Sometimes she had trouble writing in it, from the lack of anything ever really happening. But today, the thoughts just flowed easily onto the paper. So much had happened in one day.

New kids. New kids are always fun. And Kankuro and Gaara were especially interesting. I hope I can get Gaara to open up to me. The dark loneliness in his beautiful eyes was painful. Those eyes…his eyes were the most beautiful aquamarine color. He may have been kinda short, and a little scrawny, but he was pretty cute. I wish he wasn't so closed. Oh well. I think if I can get close to his brother, I might get him to trust me. So I'll just work on a friendship with Kankuro first.

She kept writing until she filled up the whole page. She wrote down everything that had happened that day. After she finished up, she sighed, and put the journal back in the drawer. She then got up and headed to the kitchen to get something to eat.

Kankuro and his brother got home quickly, and there was an uncomfortable silence the whole way after his outburst. He started to apologize to Gaara, but stopped himself. He didn't need to apologize. If anyone needed to apologize, it was Gaara. He treated the girl like an enemy even though she had really been the only person that didn't look at them funny or make snide comments about how they looked or their names. At first he decided that he was going to stop with the face paint, but Lucretia seemed to like it, so he quickly changed his mind. He didn't need to change himself just because a few people made some stupid comments. Yes, he wouldn't wear all of it like he used to before they came here, but he would at least wear the amount he had today.

Kankuro turned to his brother and said, "I'm going to call Temari and tell her about the first day. You need to make some food or something. I promise I'll make the food tomorrow."

Gaara glared at him, and then turned and headed off towards the kitchen. Kankuro walked over and picked up the phone. He dialed Temari's number, and she picked up pretty quickly.

"Hello?"

"Hey. Just got home from school. The first day wasn't that bad really."

"Oh, good. What happened?"

"Well, it turns out that there was a girl that had the same schedule as us, and she was pretty nice.

"Ooo…a girl huh? What's her name?"

"Shut up. And her name's Lucretia."

"Ha ha…interesting name."

"Yeah. All the people here are like clones though. She and her friends were the only people that didn't really fit the 'mold' that I saw."

"Well, that's perfect I guess. You two don't really fit any 'mold' no matter where you go."

"Yeah, I guess. I'm kind of frustrated though. Gaara treated her badly. He wasn't very nice at all. He was actually quite hostile until I had a talk with him, and then he treated her with indifference."

"He does that, remember? You of all people should know."

"I know. I just wish he could've been a little nicer. She was the nicest person in the whole school towards us. The least he could've done is be nicer, even if he didn't want to make friends with her so soon."

"Kankuro, you're worrying too much. Why do you care? You used to not even notice when Gaara shunned other people. Now you're pulling your hair out over it, I just don't get it."

"I don't know either, but I really think he should be nicer to Lu."

"Lu? A nickname already?" She laughed and added, "I think you like her. That's why you care."

"I do not. Not like that at least. I'm just glad that someone attempted to make friends with us. That was the whole point of going to a public school, right?"

"Yeah, yeah. I wanted you two to actually make some friends. But still, I think there's more to this than you will admit even to yourself."

"You may think that, but you'd be wrong," he said, scowling. How dare she assume something. But, he assumed things of Gaara all the time.

She sighed heavily, and said, "Fine, I won't get involved with this. Anyways, I need to go. My friends and I are going out again. Bye."

"Bye."

Gaara threw some ramen into the microwave for the two of them. He was a little frustrated at what Kankuro was talking to Temari about. It was like his brother forgot how good his hearing was. Some of it didn't make sense, since he was only hearing half of the conversation. Like he didn't know what Kankuro was getting defensive about. But, he heard everything he had said. He confronted him as he came into the kitchen.

"Why are you so concerned with me making friends with that stupid girl?"

"She's not stupid, and because we need to make friends with people," Kankuro snapped. He was getting defensive about the girl, Gaara realized.

"You…you are defending her."

"Yeah, so? I won't let you say something that both of us know isn't true, and especially about her."

"Why?"

"What do you mean 'why'?!"

"I mean why are you defending her like this. You usually don't do that for anyone other than Temari and me."

Kankuro shot him an icy glare. Gaara knew why. He just wanted to get him to say it.

"I don't know! I just think that you should be nicer to her. She tried hard to make friends with you, but you just blocked her out. I think if you would be friends with her, you'd see that she's not a bad person like you assume everyone is."

"That's not why. At least that's not the whole reason. Both of us know that," Gaara said coolly.

Kankuro punched the wall and almost shouted, "Are you trying to assume something?!"

"We both know it's true. But you won't admit it to yourself, will you?" Gaara could tell by shocked look on his face that he was right. Kankuro had just realized the truth in Gaara's words.

"Just…just shut up!" Kankuro shouted. "First Temari, now you! Both of you are assuming things. Stop it! You don't know anything!" and with that he stormed off to his room.

Gaara turned and grabbed his food and sat down to eat. 'He won't admit it to himself,' he thought. 'He'll understand eventually I guess. Why does he have to do this to himself?' Gaara couldn't answer that question. It had always been his brother and Temari, and then his brother and him. None of them let anyone else in ever. Temari had told them when they came here that she had already started to change and make friends, and that they needed to do the same. Gaara didn't really plan on doing it. She seemed happy, but not only was he wary of trusting anyone new, but seeing how Kankuro acted now, he wasn't sure he wanted to attempt to change at all. His brother seemed so confused now, like he had no clue what he was doing. But, in truth, the path he was going down was new to him. Unlike himself, though, Kankuro seemed to want it. Gaara didn't want to attach himself to anyone. Especially not someone new. He already stretched himself when he had attached himself to his brother. He didn't plan on it, but the circumstances forced him to do so. He liked being close to his brother of all people, but at the same time, he didn't want to have to depend on anyone.

Gaara sighed and finished his meal. He cleaned up a little, and then grabbed Kankuro's food and headed towards his room. Gaara knocked on the door before cracking it open.

"Go away," Kankuro said.

"I brought your food, stupid." Gaara walked in and set it next to him on the desk. Kankuro was just sitting with his face in his hands. "You need to eat."

"I'll eat it later."

Gaara sighed, "Look, we both know it's true. You just need to admit it to yourself. I don't plan on making any bonds with anyone, but, I know you want to. Just, don't set yourself up to get hurt in the end."

"I know," Kankuro said. "Now go away. I need to think by myself."

"Whatever."

Gaara left the room, leaving his brother to think to himself. As he was leaving he heard his brother speak quietly to himself.

"What's wrong with me…I didn't plan on this…"


	4. Admittance

**I don't own Gaara or Kankuro or Temari, but Lu is mine.**

Chapter 4: Admittance

Kankuro sat up in his bed. He couldn't sleep. All he could do was think, and the thinking prevented him from being able to rest at all. He looked over at the clock. 3:30. He had been up all night, and he still had to go to school in a few hours. He ran his hands through his hair and jumped out of bed. He knew it was too late to try to get any sleep, because even if he could sleep now, he would never wake up on time.

He walked over to his desk and flopped down in the chair. He rummaged through the mess of papers and found the picture that had been taken right before they moved here. Gaara was standing in front of him and Temari. Kankuro had his hand on Gaara's head, messing with his hair, while Temari had her hand on one hip, and a big smile on her face. Gaara changed the mood of the whole picture though, with the angry look in his eyes and the scowl on his face. Kankuro smiled. His little brother was always like that. He hoped that the girl could get through to him eventually. It would be good for him to open up to someone other than him.

Kankuro got up, leaving the picture on the desk, and he grabbed his homework papers and shoved them into his binder and grabbed his school stuff and brought it to the table near the door. He wandered into the kitchen, and started to get the things together to make breakfast for himself. He wasn't really hungry, but he needed something to do to keep his mind busy. He wanted to stop thinking so much about Lucretia. He knew inside exactly what was happening, but if he ignored it, maybe it would go away. He didn't want to get involved with those kinds of feelings yet. His first priority was getting Gaara to make friends.

He ended up just making himself a bagel with cream cheese, and he went over to the couch and turned on the TV. He flipped through the channels absent mindedly, and eventually stopped on a late night comedy show. It was profane, but still funny. He just sat and watched TV for a while, and eventually Gaara woke up and wandered in.

"What are you doing up already?" Kankuro asked.

"It's 7:00, we have to leave in about 30 minutes."

"Really? I didn't realize I had been in here that long."

"Whatever. You didn't sleep, did you?"

"No. I was up thinking the whole night. I broke down and came in here to watch TV eventually."

"That's what I thought. Get up and get ready," Gaara told him. "You take a while to do so anyways."

Kankuro chuckled a little, and then said, "You just worry about getting yourself ready. I know how to take care of myself."

He got up and turned the TV off, then walked to his room to change and put on his face paint. He grabbed yet another pair of worn jeans and a blue t-shirt. He also threw on his black cat eared jacket. Kankuro walked over and put on his face paint, a slightly different pattern than the day before. This time instead of the lines trailing off the outside corners of his eyes, he brought some down the sides of his nose bridge off of the inside corners. He put the paint down, and headed out to the main room and nodded to Gaara and the two of them grabbed their school stuff and headed out the door.

Lucretia sat on the cold floor in the front of the school, watching everyone come in, looking for the two brothers. She sat there every day, but this time instead of reading a book or drawing, she was actually waiting for people. She arrived at school fairly early, usually before anyone else, so she was pretty sure she would catch them as they came in. She didn't have to wait long before the brothers walked through the doors.

"Hey guys!" she called to them as she jumped up and ran over towards the entrance.

"Hey Lu," Kankuro replied. "You're here pretty early."

"Yeah, my bus picks me up pretty early and I get here a little after 7:30 usually."

"Jeez, we don't start walking until about then. At least we don't live too far away."

"Well, I don't mind it. It gives me time to read or draw or something before school actually starts."

"Oh, well, where are your friends?" Kankuro asked her.

"Uh, I don't know…but they probably won't get here for a while. Joe drives her to school, and they get here almost last minute. Hmmm…I think some of my other friends are here though. Let's go look for them."

Kankuro nodded to her and she led them towards the cafeteria. She wanted to have them meet her whole group of friends, and they usually sat in the cafeteria about this time. She glanced towards their usual table, and almost the whole group was there already. She led the brothers over towards the table and waved at her friends.

"Hey guys!" she called to them.

"Who are they?" asked Lily, a long-haired girl.

"Oh, yeah, this is Kankuro and Gaara. They're new here." Lucretia looked at all her friends in turn and gave their names. "Guys, these are my friends. That's Lily, Matt, Carly, Carrie, John, and Jessie."

Kankuro smiled nervously and waved at them. Matt looked at him funny, and said, "Why the hell are they wearing makeup?"

Lucretia was about to respond with a snide comment back, but Carly beat her to it by saying, "Are you jealous that it makes them look better than you, Mr. Ugly?"

Matt just glared at her as everyone else laughed. Lucretia turned to the brothers and nodded towards the front of the school. "Let's go back there," she said. Kankuro agreed and he and Gaara followed her back to the front of the school.

Gaara looked back at the group of teens still laughing at their friend. He narrowed his eyes and then turned back to face Kankuro. "That's why I don't want to make any 'friends.' They have no point."

Kankuro just looked at him and sighed. They reached the front of the school, and Lucretia unceremoniously flopped down onto the cold hard floor. Kankuro cocked one eyebrow, and then took a seat on the floor with her. Gaara instead leaned against the wall, preferring not to touch the floor so much.

Kankuro and Lucretia immediately began a conversation, but Gaara ignored it. He wasn't paying any attention to what they were discussing. He was thinking about if Kankuro had come to accept his feelings yet or not. He sighed and crossed his arms, and leaned deeper into the wall. Even though he thought it stupid, and said so, he wondered what it would be like to have that kind of bond with someone. Thinking of those things, however, only reminded him of his uncle. He questioned his uncle about love once. But after what happened, he wasn't sure he believed it was as good a thing as his uncle had told him. Especially since he had lied about it to Gaara himself. If it was really that good a thing, his uncle couldn't have lied about it like that. Gaara felt better off by himself for the most part. Getting involved in things like that only made things worse, he thought.

The bell rang, and the two on the floor stood up and dusted themselves off. Then the trio headed towards their first class. Kankuro and Lucretia were still deep in conversation as they walked. Gaara narrowed his eyes at them and just continued to follow them along in the hallway.

Kankuro opened the door for Lucretia and then walked into the classroom himself, while Gaara followed. The three of them made their way to the same seats they had sat in the day before. Kankuro looked around and asked, "Where is everyone?"

Lucretia laughed and replied, "They most likely won't be in here for another ten minutes. The usually all come in during the last five minutes of the time before class."

"Oh," Kankuro said. He took his seat next to her and set his stuff down on his desk. "I had trouble with the homework last night."

"Really? That's strange. Your brother finished his in class, but you had trouble?" She laughed and said, "That's not good."

Kankuro blushed a little and told her to shut up and help him. It wasn't his fault Gaara was better at this stuff than he was. He usually wouldn't have trouble, but all the thinking messed up his thought process and made it hard for him to concentrate.

The two of them went over the questions he didn't get, and then the five-minute bell rang and the clones filed in and sat as far away as they could from the trio in the back of the room. Some of them sneered as they looked at them, and others looked straight through them. Kankuro didn't really care either way, though. Their opinion didn't matter in the least bit to him.

The bell rang. 'Finally,' Kankuro thought. 'This class was really long today.' They all got up and walked together to the art room. Hopefully today wouldn't be as tense as yesterday.

Ms. Wright looked them all squarely in the eyes as they entered the class and walked to the back table again. As the rest of the class filed in, she pointed towards the board and said, "This is your assignment. Do it without question. I want to see if you can follow instructions without having to be told everything step by step."

On the board there was a long list of steps. The students all got out their sketchbooks and pencils and started. Kankuro hesitated a little and began to read over all the steps first.

Step one: read all the steps carefully before beginning.

Step two: Write your name in the top right corner.

Step three: Draw a box around the first letter of your first name.

Step four: Underline the rest of your name.

Step five: Draw a triangle in the bottom left of your paper.

Step six: Draw a fish in the bottom right corner.

Step seven: Fold your paper in half.

Step eight: Tear a circle out of the center of your paper.

Step nine: Unfold the paper, and draw a star around the circle.

Step ten: Don't do any of the steps listed above, and only write your name in the top left corner and sit quietly.

Kankuro laughed inwardly, and did so. He looked around at all the people that were already tearing a circle out of their papers. He turned back to his own table to see Gaara sitting silently with a scowl on his face, nothing on his paper but his name in the top left corner. He looked over at Lucretia, who smiled back at him and silently laughed. He smiled. She seemed to know exactly what was going on. After a few more minutes, the teacher stopped them all and explained, "This was a test to see who in here could follow directions, and apparently, only four of you could do so."

Kankuro looked around the room to find the other kid who had followed directions. He quickly saw her. She had a smug look on her face, so he immediately knew it was her. He just shrugged and turned back towards Gaara and Lucretia.

"Good job to those who did. As for the rest of you," she continued, "you better be more careful, because our next project requires you to follow directions carefully. If you do anything slightly out of order, it won't turn out like it should. Now, I will tell you exactly what your next project is going to be…"

She went on and on about the next project, which involved paint and wax and all this other stuff. Kankuro only half listened, and he looked towards Lucretia. She was completely absorbed in what Ms. Wright was saying. He laughed silently, and looked towards Gaara. He was looking at the teacher, or, most likely past her, and was definitely not paying any attention to her. His eyes were glazed over and he was thinking. The furrowed brow told Kankuro that he was thinking deeply. 'I wonder what he's thinking about. Probably nothing important,' he thought.

The teacher finally finished the explanation, and allowed the students to get up and get their supplies. Lucretia stood up and nudged the brothers on their arms and told them to follow her. They wouldn't know where to find anything yet. The three of them grabbed all the different things required as well as an instruction sheet and went back to their table.

While working, the three of them discussed what they would do for their lunch period. Lucretia suggested that they all go to the park together, since the weather was nice again today. Kankuro agreed with her and Gaara just grunted in agreement. She turned her gaze on the small boy, and wished again that he was more sociable. She sighed inwardly and returned her attention to her project.

Gaara felt her eyes on him, but he didn't look up until she looked away. He watched her for a short while, working diligently on her artwork. He glanced over to Kankuro, who was working on his artwork, but he would glance over at Lucretia every few minutes. He narrowed his eyes at his brother, and at that moment Kankuro looked back at him and his face reddened a bit at being caught stealing glances at her. He quickly looked back at his paper and avoided Gaara's angry look.

He then turned back to his own paper, and began the pointless project. Though he was a talented artist, he had no interest in something like this. He rarely did any artwork at all. But, Kankuro wanted to take an art class, so he submitted to taking a drawing class. Gaara sighed and very quickly went through all of the steps. He had no intention of spending the whole class on something that he could do in a few minutes. He finished quickly, and the teacher noticed he wasn't doing anything, and walked over to see why.

"I'm shocked at how you've finished this so fast," she exclaimed when she looked over his shoulder. "Normally it takes almost the whole time in class, but you seem to have found a way to make it quick and still look pretty good. Good job."

Gaara just glanced up at her and shrugged. He then laid his head down on the table and closed his eyes, thinking. He heard Ms. Wright sigh and walk away, and then he was left by himself, even though there were two other people at the table. They were to involved in their artwork to notice anyway.

Gaara was soon lost in thought and almost didn't notice when the bell rang. He looked over at his brother, who stood up and started to gather his things. Gaara got up and said, "So, are we going to go to the park then?"

Lucretia looked at him, a bit surprised at him actually talking, and said, "Yeah I guess. We can get food there."

Gaara just nodded and they all walked from the classroom.

The three were sitting on a bench, Kankuro in the middle. Lucretia asked him to go get them some food, which would give her a chance to try to talk to Gaara alone. He obliged, and walked off to go get something. As he left, she turned to Gaara, who was staring off into nothing.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked.

He turned to her and scowled. "Nothing," he responded eventually.

"Oh, okay." She looked at her feet, trying to think of something to talk about. She couldn't think of anything, but then Gaara said something.

"Why?"

She looked up at him. He didn't have the usual hate in his eyes, so she thought it would be a good time to try to get him to open up. "I…I just was wondering. All you ever seem to do is think."

"Well, that's a very good speculation. I like to think and keep to myself."

"Why don't you ever say anything. You always seem so lonely," she said, trying to not be too obvious that she was slowly scooting closer towards him.

"Because…I…well, I've not had good luck with doing so in the past. Kankuro already told you the main part of it. He's the only person that I've ever dared to become close to. And that was only after a long time."

She saw a look she hadn't before in his eyes as he said this. His aquamarine eyes softened a little at this, instead of taking on the usual angry haze. "It's a good thing to open up to people," she told him. "I used to keep to myself a lot, but I realized I was missing out on the enjoyment of having friends. I don't know how hard your life was, but I know what it's like to be afraid to open up to people."

He didn't seem to notice that she had already shortened the distance between them to where they were now sitting right next to each other. She looked into his eyes, and could tell that he was thinking deeply about what she had said.

He blinked and shook his head. "No, you don't know what my life was like."

She sighed and said, "If you would talk to me, I might be able to."

Gaara looked at her, and she saw fear in his eyes. "I…I can't. I just can't," he said, looking away quickly. His face was a little flushed. Lucretia just sighed and leaned in towards him.

"It's not healthy to keep everything in, you know," she told him. He looked up at her, their faces close. He opened his mouth to speak, but stopped. Lucretia didn't know why, but at that moment, she leaned in even more and kissed him.

Kankuro was heading back, and he saw Lucretia and Gaara sitting close and talking. 'Good,' he thought. 'He's finally talking to her.' He smiled a little, but his smile immediately went away as she leaned forward and kissed Gaara. Kankuro's stomach turned over inside him, and he cursed quietly as Gaara's eyes opened wide and he jumped up from the bench. Gaara looked frightened, and probably had no idea what had just happened. Kankuro broke into a run and got to them as quick as possible. In his head he was screaming.

"What was that!?" Gaara exclaimed.

Lucretia only stammered in response, probably not expecting him to react like that. Kankuro saw that both of them looked frightened, but Gaara more so than Lucretia. "What just happened here?" Kankuro asked quickly. He looked at Gaara, who only turned red and shook like crazy. He looked to Lucretia and repeated, "What happened Lu?"

"I…I don't know…he and I were talking, and…I don't know what came over me..." She looked like she was about to cry. She probably had no idea that he would react like that.

"Look, guys, just…just calm down. Lu," Kankuro continued, "Lu, can you just….walk around for a bit. I need to talk to Gaara."

She nodded and quickly got up and walked towards the track in the middle of the park. Kankuro was a little upset about sending her off like that, but he needed to talk to Gaara alone. He turned to Gaara, whose eyes were still wide with shock. His face was a mix of confusion and fear. Kankuro asked him to sit down and calm down. He nodded and sat slowly.

"I…I don't know what just happened…I was just talking with her and…she kept scooting closer to me and I pretended not to notice…and then she…then she just leaned forward and kissed me…"

Kankuro sighed painfully. He was upset that she scared his brother like that, but he knew that he was upset about it for another reason. He pushed those thoughts aside and grabbed his brother's shoulders and looked him squarely in the eye. "I don't really know what just happened, or why it happened, but I think it's best to just forget about it." He cursed himself inwardly, as he knew that he only said that because of that feeling inside…the anger at what just happened. Gaara just nodded to his brother and sat back in the seat.

"I'm going to go talk to Lu. You can stay here and calm down, but I suggest walking back to school or something."

Again, Gaara just nodded and he got up and walked off in the direction of the school. Kankuro watched his brother walking for a bit, and then stood up to go after Lucretia. He needed to talk to her. He needed to tell her how he felt. He knew that he couldn't let it just sit inside and ignore it. He caught sight of her, and she was looking in his direction. He waved to her, and she waved back and started walking towards him. He swallowed heavily and started towards her. He had to tell her now.

**Okay, so I've got 7 chapters already written at this point, but I just wanna see how people feel about this one before I put the rest up. That and I'm too lazy to do so in the first place. I have all 7 chapters (plus half of an 8****th****) in one file, so I have to copy each chapter individually and make a new document and a bunch of other crap…so I just don't feel like doing them all right now. Now I'm off to upload the 4 chapters I have of my other fanfic. Nyah, let me know what you think!**


	5. Truth

**I'm ecstatic that at least one person likes this **

**I don't own Gaara or Kankuro or Temari, but Lu is mine.**

Chapter 5: Truth

Gaara silently walked back towards the school, thoughts racing in his mind. 'Why?' he asked himself. 'Why did she do that?' He didn't have the slightest idea. He thought back to the moment it happened. He was mostly afraid and shocked, but there was something else there. He had felt happiness. He enjoyed it. But his fear took over and caused him to react badly. He suddenly felt regretful that he had reacted like that and broke off from her. It was something new, and he liked it.

He finally realized exactly why he was always to angry when his brother talked to her. It was jealousy. But it was too late now. Too late to change things. He couldn't go back and accept the embrace, instead of running from it like he had. He was so confused. Was this what his uncle had described to him? It couldn't be…but yet…it had to be. He remembered what his uncle had told him. That it was a good thing, but it could also be the worst thing. That it could help heal the pain inside, but could also cause it at the same time. Now he understood what he meant by that. He sighed and continued on.

Lucretia still wasn't sure about what had just happened, but Kankuro seemed to have calmed his brother a little. She saw Gaara leave back towards the school, and her heart ached. She felt bad about what she did. Kankuro waved at her, and she waved back. They started to walk towards each other. They reached each other shortly and silently agreed to start walking together.

It was an uncomfortable silence, and it was finally broken by Kankuro sighing and saying, "You know, he wasn't ready for that at all."

"I know," she said, "but…I don't know what happened. I was talking to him and then suddenly a voice inside me told me to kiss him. I knew as soon as I did it that I shouldn't have. But…I just don't know…" Her voice trailed off helplessly.

She stopped walking and turned towards Kankuro. They looked each other in the eyes, and his face reddened a little. He looked away shyly and said, "Well…I hope things won't get awkward between you two."

Lucretia sighed and nodded. She didn't want that at all. She would hate it if it became hard to be near each other. She shuffled her feet and they began to walk again. She was about to speak when Kankuro said, "Look, I…uh…I have something I want to say."

She looked over at him, and he was looking at his feet, kicking a small rock. "What?" she asked.

"I…uh…I don't know what to say really," he started, his face turning red again. "I…I think I…have feelings for you."

Lucretia wasn't quite sure what he meant just by what he said, but the fact that he choked on the last few words told her what he was saying. "Oh…uh…okay." she said. She could feel her face getting hot. She turned away to try to hide it. She felt him put his hand on her face and he gently turned her towards him.

"I don't…I don't want to make things even more complicated then they already are, but I had to tell you."

"I…I see," she stammered. "I don't really think it can get any more complicated than it already is, though," she said jokingly to him, but all she could do was laugh nervously. Her mind was racing. So much had just happened, and she didn't really know what to do about it or what to think about it. Not to mention that she had only met these brothers yesterday. None of this should've happened so fast. She cursed herself inwardly, and tried to think of something to say to break the uncomfortable silence. 'Why can't I just go back and stop myself?' she pleaded inside. She couldn't help but think that all this uncomfortable silence was all her fault. Kankuro broke her thoughts, though, by saying, "I understand if…if you don't feel…feel anything for me."

She looked at him closely, but he avoided all eye contact. She sighed and said, "It's not that, I…it's just so soon. I only met you yesterday. Which makes what happened between Gaara and me even more awkward."

He finally looked up at her, and she saw the fear in his eyes, but there was also relief. "I think we should go sit down," she said to him. He nodded and they walked back over to the bench and sat down.

Kankuro couldn't believe he had just said what he did. He felt sick to his stomach, and wished that he could go back and change what happened. The two of them sat down together, but with a considerable distance between them. Things were still a little uncomfortable for them. They sat in silence for a long while.

Lucretia broke the silence by saying, "I…we need to head back to the school now or we'll be late for class." Kankuro grunted in agreement, and stood up and started walking. She grabbed his arm and pulled him back towards her a little, and he turned to see her looking at him with apologetic eyes. But before she could say anything, he stopped her and said, "Look, I understand, okay? Let's just forget about all this." He turned away from her and continued walking, but she didn't let go of his arm.

"No," she said, holding him back. "I can't just forget about it. That's not how things are supposed to happen."

"Well, how ARE they supposed to happen!?" Kankuro snapped at her, immediately regretting it. Her face twisted with anger as she began to cry.

"I don't know! I can't just ignore what has happened!" she shouted at him. He was a little taken aback, and was at a loss for words. He just looked at her, and she let go of his arm and turned sharply away and wiped her eyes.

She was about to walk away, but Kankuro grabbed her arm this time. He pulled her to him and held her close. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

They stood there for several minutes, his arms wrapped around her. She looked up at him, tears still streaming down her face.

"I know," she breathed.

Then they hugged even tighter for a second, and finally they broke and started to walk towards the school.

"We're going to be late, you know," she teased.

Kankuro just laughed and took her hand in his. She didn't pull away at all; instead she interlaced her fingers with his. His face began to feel hot as they walked on towards the high school.

Gaara sat in the classroom, angered that there were only two minutes left before class would start, and he didn't see any sign of his brother and the girl. He hadn't taken a seat yet, not because he didn't know where to sit, but because he didn't really feel comfortable going to sit with the couple that was friends with Lucretia. He looked over at them, and they weren't taking any notice of him at all. They were too busy talking together to notice. The late bell rang, and he slowly walked over to the seat behind Maggie, leaving the seats next to the both of them open for his brother and Lucretia.

Mr. Bunker wondered where they were, since he had seen them earlier in the day. He asked Gaara where they were, and he was about to reply when the two of them came through the door. Gaara noticed that they broke hands as they walked in. He silently cursed to himself while they apologized to the teacher for being late and took their seats. Gaara looked at his brother with murderous eyes. He knew something had happened, but he couldn't find out until they were allowed to talk again like the day before. The whole time he was reading and working, he was fuming with anger.

It wasn't long before they were allowed to talk again, and he immediately punched his brother on the arm to get his attention.

"Ow! What?"

"What did you two talk about?"

"Just….stuff." Kankuro turned away from him. Gaara wasn't satisfied with that answer.

"I saw you two break hands as you walked in class, not only that, but you two were pretty late." Gaara gave him a death stare.

"Why do you care? You're the one who freaked when she kissed you."

Kankuro had gone a little to far with that. Gaara turned towards him, face distorting in anger. "I was just surprised, that's all! I didn't expect it!"

"What's your problem?!"

The two of them were almost shouting at that point, and the teens around them started to look in their direction. Gaara noticed this, and gave them all a mean look and leaned in closer to his brother and whispered, "Something happened, didn't it?"

"No, nothing happened, okay? We were just holding hands for a little bit."

"You never did that before. Apparently it wasn't just nothing," Gaara snapped back.

"Look, can we talk about this later? You're making a scene. We'll talk about it when we get home."

Gaara just glared at him, but he saw the logic in what his brother had said. He noticed Lucretia was looking at the two of them, and she looked worried. Gaara just sighed and sat back in his chair and calmed down. "Fine," he said.

"Thank you," his brother said, and then he got back to working. Lucretia looked hurt for some reason, but didn't say anything. She was probably as confused about this as Kankuro was. He looked away from her, and began to write on his paper. He had already finished the assignment, but he needed to do something to avoid any questions.

Lucretia didn't stick around to talk to either of the brothers after school. They seemed to feel as uncomfortable as she did, since they left for home as soon as the bell rang with only a quick farewell. She walked into her room, shut the door, and sat down at her computer. She logged into AIM, and Maggie was on. 'Good, I can talk to someone,' she thought as she initiated the conversation.

RusXKad: hey mag

Takkerz: Hey.

Takkerz: What was that thing all about in English today, do you know?

RusXKad: i think so, but i'm not sure. it might have something to do with the fact that during my lunch break, gaara and i were left alone for a few minutes and he and i started talking…and i…i kissed him

Takkerz: OMG WHAT!?

RusXKad: yeah…

Takkerz: …

RusXKad: and he flipped. and then his brother came back and asked me to leave for a few minutes to talk to him, and then gaara went back to the school, and then kankuro and i talked for a bit…and then some things were said…and he snapped at me, and i started crying, and then…and then we hugged for several minutes and walked back to school holding hands

Takkerz: OO

Takkerz: Gawd, you're just having all kinds of trouble!

RusXKad: tell me about it! I don't know what to do, or what they're going to do. and, most of all, i have no clue why they were fighting

RusXKad: it couldn't have been about what happened, i don't think. because i don't think gaara liked being kissed. not with how he reacted

Takkerz: Maybe he did, but he was just too shocked at the time to react properly.

RusXKad: yeah, that could be it

RusXKad: but i doubt it

Takkerz: Why?

RusXKad: it's complicated

Takkerz: What is?

RusXKad: everything. gaara's past and everything

Takkerz: How?

RusXKad: i can't explain it really

Takkerz: M'kay. Just don't go breakin' hearts XD

RusXKad: …

Takkerz: WHAT?

RusXKad: that's not funny xP

Takkerz: Whatever. I'm gonna go eat now. BAI

RusXKad: m'kay, bye

Takkerz logged off

Lucretia sat at her computer silently for a few moments. 'What if she's right?' she thought. 'That would be bad, because that would mean that both brothers have feelings for me…damn that wouldn't be good at all…'

She got up and headed to the kitchen. Eating and watching TV seemed to always calm her nerves, even though she knew it was very bad for her.

Kankuro and his brother walked home in silence again, neither of them knowing what to say. When they reached the door, Gaara turned to him and said, "You have no idea why I am upset, do you?"

Kankuro just looked at him. Gaara had lost the anger in his eyes. It was replaced by confusion and sadness. "No, I don't," he replied.

"Well, it's complicated."

"Tell me," pressed Kankuro.

Gaara just sighed and opened the door. Kankuro watched him walk in the house and carefully sit on the sofa. Gaara turned to him, and gestured for him to sit down.

"Will you tell me what's going on?" he asked his little brother.

"It will take a while, but yes, I will. Just sit down first."

Kankuro flopped down on the sofa next to him. "Talk," he said.

"Fine, fine. When I was walking back to school, I thought more about what had happened. At first, when she kissed me, I was scared. I have never had that kind of contact with people before. I didn't expect it at all either. I over-reacted. But when I started to think about it, I was angry at myself for jumping up like that and freaking out.

"I thought back to how I was always getting angry when you and her were talking and laughing, and then it hit me: I was jealous. I was jealous that you and her were making such a connection so quickly. And after I realized that, I thought back to when she had kissed me. I thought hard about how I had felt, and I was not just scared and surprised; there was something else there. It was happiness; I enjoyed the kiss. And now I wish that I hadn't have jumped up so quickly, that I should have stayed there and accepted it.

"When I saw you two walking in the class, I noticed that you two broke hands quickly, like you were hiding something."

Kankuro just looked at his brother, shocked at what he had just revealed. "You…you…I can't believe this!" Kankuro's head was spinning. His brother actually wanted contact with another person? It wasn't right. That's not what should happen. "Damnit!" he said, mostly to himself.

"What?" Gaara asked, giving him a puzzled look.

"When I talked with her, I admitted that I had feelings for her, and then some things were said, she started crying, and the next thing I knew, I had pulled her close to me and we just stood there in each other's arms for a few minutes. Then we walked back to school holding hands." Kankuro sighed, "But, if you have feelings for her too…then…"

He couldn't even finish his sentence. 'How could this happen?!' he thought. 'Things weren't supposed to be like this!' He looked over at Gaara, who was only sitting in silence, waiting for him to say something. "Well, what are we going to do about this," Kankuro finally said.

"I have no idea," Gaara replied.

The two brothers sat in silence for a long time, and eventually it was broken by the phone ringing. 'Damnit Temari,' Kankuro thought, 'oh well, maybe you'll know what we can do. Though I have a feeling I know what you'll say.' He got up and answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Kanky?"

"Temari, what did I tell you about calling me that?"

"Oh, I don't know," she said sarcastically. She laughed a little and then continued, "So, what's up?"

"Funny you should ask," he said, "Gaara and I were just fighting over a girl."

"Huh?"

Kankuro laughed a little and said, "It's a REALLY long story."

"I bet," she said, "I don't have time to listen to it though. I guess you two are going to have to sort things out yourselves. I guess I'll call tomorrow and see if you have anything figured out by then. Bye."

"Bye," Kankuro replied, hanging up the phone.

Gaara just looked at his older brother. "What ARE we going to do about this?"

"I have no clue. We probably need to talk to Lu about it first," Kankuro told him.

"Okay. Fine. We'll talk to her tomorrow morning then."


	6. Decisions

**I don't own Gaara or Kankuro or Temari, but Lu is mine.**

Chapter 6: Decisions

Lucretia sat in her usual spot in the front of the school, but this time she was back to reading like she used to. She was so nervous about how things would go today. If Maggie was right, things would get very complicated, very fast. She hoped that it wouldn't come down to that.

"Hey Lu!"

She looked up at hearing her name. Her heart raced and she got nervous, because it was Kankuro and Gaara. 'Please don't let Mag be right!' she pleaded helplessly as the two brothers made there way over to her. Like before, Kankuro sat down on the floor with her, while Gaara leaned against the wall near them.

"We have a lot to talk about, the three of us," he said, only worsening her nervousness.

"Really?…uh…What about?" though she already knew it before either of them said anything.

Kankuro frowned a little and turned to his brother and said, "Sit down, jeez. You're making me nervous standing over us like that."

Gaara looked at him with disgust, and then eventually sat on the floor with them. "Fine."

"Okay, so, Gaara and I had a long talk yesterday…and…well, things are a little complicated now." He looked at her nervously.

She felt like she was about to cry for some reason, because she just knew what was going on. "Don't tell me….I think I already know…."

"Well…uh…I guess that makes it easier…but just to be sure, I need to tell you. Or maybe Gaara should." He looked over at his brother.

Gaara looked up at him with fury and fear in his eyes. "Wh-what?! Why me?!"

"Because it would sound weird coming from me, stupid."

Gaara just looked at his feet, at a loss for words. He looked so confused to Lucretia. He finally said, "Umm…Kankuro?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you…can you leave us alone for a bit? It would make it easier I think."

Kankuro looked a little hurt, but he quickly hid it and nodded. He stood up and walked towards the bathrooms.

Gaara watched his brother leave, and then turned back to Lucretia. He opened his mouth to say something, but stopped. His face began to feel hot. He could feel her eyes on him, waiting for him to say something. When he looked up, he noticed she had scooted closer to him. A lot closer. She was right next to him, in fact. Close enough that he could hear her breathing softly.

He looked her in the eyes, still unable to say anything. He couldn't form the words. She seemed to understand what was going on a little. He pulled back as she put her hand on his, but he quickly calmed down and laid his hand back down, on top of hers.

"You know, don't you?" he said.

"I think so, but I don't know how or why."

"Well…yesterday…I was just surprised. I didn't expect it, but when I thought about it afterwards, I realized what was going on. I…I was so cold to you before because I was jealous that you and Kankuro seemed to become friends so quickly."

He looked at her, and he saw sorrow in her eyes. "I…he…it's not the same. I know he has feelings for me, but…I don't know if I feel that way towards him. It's so soon too. I've not even known either of you for a week, and things are already getting so complicated. I just don't know what to do."

Gaara sympathized with her; he, too, had no idea what to do. He closed his hand around hers, and tried to say something, but again nothing came out. He was so frustrated with himself. He wished he could say something.

Before he could think of anything, Lucretia leaned forward and kissed him again. He squealed a little, surprised, but didn't pull back this time. He just let it happen. 'She tastes like cinnamon,' he thought, 'must be the gum.'

They held the kiss for a short while, but not for very long before Lucretia leaned back from him and smiled nervously. "I hope that it wasn't out of place," she said. Gaara looked at her, noticing for the first time how different she looked without the pigtails. She looked older than before.

"Well, I don't know if it was or not, but I couldn't think of anything to say anyways," Gaara said, almost smiling.

Kankuro watched them from a distance. "Damnit!" he said to himself. "They're holding hands. I better head back over there before…" Kankuro's voice trailed off as he saw them kiss. Only this time, Gaara didn't pull back. He stayed with it, accepted it. His stomach twisted over in knots again. He started over slowly.

"Hey…uh…guys…" he said nervously when he got over to them. He could feel his face getting hot again.

"Oh, uh…Kankuro…you're back…uh…good," Lucretia stammered. She quickly pulled her hand from Gaara's, blushing. "I, uh…I need to talk to both of you I think anyways," she continued. "Things got really complicated fast, " she said with a nervous laugh. "I….I need some time to think about things, okay? Please…please let's just put this aside for a while and act like nothing happened for now, okay?"

Kankuro looked at her, and then over to Gaara, who met his gaze and they both silently nodded at the same time.

"Thanks," she continued. The bell rang. "Well, Let's get to class then I guess." and she stood up and dusted herself off. Kankuro watched her as she looked back and forth between him and his brother. She leaned forward and kissed them both on the cheek. They started walking towards their class.

Kankuro fell back a little bit behind Gaara, and grabbed Lucretia's arm carefully.

"What?" she began, but Kankuro just pulled her to him and kissed her. She didn't pull away at all, like he had expected. In fact, she returned the kiss. For a short moment, time seemed to stop for him. He was lost in it, her smell, the sweet taste of the gum she had been chewing, everything seemed to be at a standstill.

When they broke, Gaara just stared at them, a dark look in his eyes. "What was THAT about?" he hissed.

"Well, you got to kiss her twice, so I thought it would only be fair if I got to at least once," he reasoned, smirking a little. 'That had nothing to do with anything,' he thought.

"Whatever," Gaara said, rolling his eyes as he opened the door to the classroom.

Lucretia could barely pay any attention to anything during the first two classes of the day, and they seemed to only last a few minutes to her, since she spent the whole time thinking. She had to decide what to do about this whole thing. It was up to her. She needed to decide if she was going to start anything so soon, and if so, who with. She hoped that whatever she decided, neither of them would hate her.

She looked at Kankuro; his messy brown hair falling around his face just right, and the purple markings around his eyes and on his forehead. She wondered how he looked without the makeup. He looked over back at her, and their eyes met. She became lost in his royal blue eyes. He cocked one eyebrow, smirked at her, and then turned back to his work. He was definitely good looking, and although he was a little strange sometimes, he had a great personality. But, sometimes, he might just be a little too laid back. He always seemed to think of everything like it was a game, like nothing that happened would make a difference in the end. Except for the one tender moment they shared the day before, the rest of the time it was all in good humor. Even the kiss. He was completely serious when it happened, she could sense it, but afterwards, he joked about it like it wasn't that big of a deal.

She looked over at Gaara. He seemed so small and frail, sitting low in his desk. His dark red hair falling into place perfectly around the small heart shaped tattoo on his forehead. He had a thoughtful look in his aquamarine colored eyes. Unlike his brother, who was sort of handsome, Gaara was cute and more "pretty" in a way. She thought back to when she kissed him a second time. She had only kissed one other boy before him, and she didn't remember being so hesitant the second time like he was. It was kind of cute, but she didn't know if she would like to be with someone so submissive after the last boy.

That relationship didn't work out to well. She had a hard time being the dominant one. She wasn't usually that aggressive when it came to things like that. Which made her think back to her kiss with Kankuro. He was the one who initiated it, and even though she didn't like how he joked about it afterwards, the fact that he took initiative made her like it more. Plus, he wasn't a bad kisser either.

Then, she remembered Gaara's past. If she chose Kankuro, she was afraid that she would mess him up even more. She decided that she would have to talk to each of the brothers individually during the lunch break.

Kankuro sat with Lucretia on the bench in the park. She had asked him to walk around for the first half of their lunch break so she could talk to him alone. He looked at her carefully. She was biting her lip softly, and she had a concerned look on her face. 'She looks so cute when she's thinking,' he thought. He wanted to kiss her again, but knew that now was not the time. She was about to talk.

"I…I'm not sure what I'm going to do at this point. There are things that I like about each of you, but, I don't know what to do. I…Gaara told me a little of what happened in his past, and just that small amount makes me afraid to turn him down. I feel like if I do, he'll just get more closed than he already is. I know that's not fair to you, but…I just don't know what to do. I don't want to cause him to separate himself from everything and everyone because I…" her voice trailed off a little. Kankuro reached for her hand, and she pulled away at first, but then she recovered and clasped his hand in hers tightly. "I shouldn't have kissed him," she finally said.

Kankuro looked at her longingly, and wished that he could take this all away and get rid of her problems. But it wasn't that simple. She was worried for a good reason. If she denied Gaara now, whether she chose himself or neither of them, he might get worse. Kankuro always looked out for his little brother, no matter what. He considered telling her to just forget about him and be with Gaara, but he stopped himself. He couldn't keep taking the fall for his little brother like this. He needed to think about himself once in a while. But he knew that this would be harsh on him, and he didn't know what to do.

Kankuro looked at Lucretia, and their eyes met. He realized just then how much older she looked without the pigtails. She looked less cute and more beautiful. He leaned in a little towards her, and she did the same. Their faces only a few inches apart, he could feel her breath on his face. She slowly started to close her eyes as he did the same, and they leaned in a little closer and their lips met. All feeling left Kankuro in that moment.

Gaara checked the time, and started to head back towards the bench where he left his brother and Lucretia a little while before. He wondered what they talked about, and what she had decided, if anything. He kept walking straight ahead, not paying attention to anything. He realized he must be getting close to them, and looked up in the direction of the bench.

His eyes opened wide in disbelief. He screamed inwardly. His brother and Lucretia were locked in a kiss, and it didn't end quickly. In fact, it only ended after Lucretia opened her eyes a little bit and looked in his direction. He saw her immediately stop the kiss and looked at him with surprised eyes, but Kankuro reached forward and kissed her again. Gaara couldn't take it. Tears streamed down his face as he turned and ran in the opposite direction.

Lucretia enjoyed the kiss thoroughly, but as she opened her eyes, she saw Gaara standing not to far off with a horrified look on his face. She immediately stopped what she was doing, but Kankuro had no idea his brother was behind him. He reached for her and kissed her again. She almost allowed herself to forget everything around her again, but suddenly remembered what was happening. "Stop," she said firmly to him.

"What? What's wrong?"

She pointed behind him and said, "That's what's wrong."

Kankuro turned around quickly and saw Gaara running in the opposite direction.

"He saw us. We need to head after him," Lucretia explained.

Kankuro nodded and the two of them ran after Gaara. They realized quickly, though, that they wouldn't be able to catch him at this rate. She looked at Kankuro and they simultaneously slowed down their pace.

"Damnit!" Kankuro said. "This is all my fault! If I hadn't have done anything, he wouldn't be running from us and out of our reach by now."

Lucretia looked at him apologetically, and took his hand. "Don't blame yourself," she said, "it's my fault too. I allowed it to happen, and now…I hope he comes back soon."

Kankuro looked at Lucretia. She was on the verge of crying again. He reached forward and brushed the hair out of her face, and put his hand on her chin. He pulled her face up towards his and said, "He will." 'I hope,' he added silently. He pulled her close to him, and held her in his arms for several minutes.

She had already started crying, and it pained him greatly to see her do so. He held her tightly, wishing he could make it all go away so she could stop crying. He rested his head on hers, and softly kissed her on the forehead. She looked up towards him, and brought her arms over his shoulders and behind his neck. He put one arm around her waist, and with the other hand, brushed the hair out of her face again and then ran his fingers through her hair. She was still silently crying, tears flowing freely from her eyes, which looked bluer than usual.

Kankuro pulled her close to him again and said, "He'll come around. I promise." She looked up at him slowly, then she pulled his face down to hers and she kissed him again.

"I hope you're right," she said as she broke off from the kiss and held him close to her.

'I hope I am too,' Kankuro thought, and he rested his head on hers once again, savoring the moment.

Lucretia sat uneasily in their last class. Gaara hadn't returned yet, and the class was almost over. It was bad enough not being able to say what had happened other than that he ran off somewhere during the lunch break and they hadn't seen him since. She cast another worried glance at Kankuro, and he returned her fears with the same ones of his own. She hoped that he would come back soon. If not to class, then at least she wished he would go home and talk to his brother about this.


	7. Monster

**I don't own Gaara or Kankuro or Temari, but Lu is mine.**

Chapter 7: Monster

Gaara looked around in the dark, watching the cars pass by. He was exhausted from running for so long. He wasn't sure how long he had run, but he knew it had to be for at least a few hours, seeing as the sun was already setting by the time he had stopped to rest. He shifted a little, leaning back on the tree a bit more.

His eyes were dry, completely cried out. He reached up and rubbed his eyes a little, the eyeliner long gone, and then put his face in his hands. Gaara didn't know why he had reacted like he did. He should've stayed to see exactly what was going on before he bolted like that. For all he knew, his brother could've made a move on her and she didn't want it. It was to late now, though, and it had been a long time. Lucretia was probably worried about him, since he didn't come back to school. Kankuro probably was, too, since he hadn't gone home yet either.

Gaara sighed heavily and stood up, brushing the dirt off his jeans. He knew he had to go home and confront his brother, but he probably wouldn't see Lucretia until after the weekend. He began to regret running off like that, for the sake of her worrying about him. He turned in the direction he hoped was home. He just realized that he wasn't entirely sure where he was going. Though he had wandered around the whole area many times when they first moved here, and before they went to school for the first time, he still wasn't quite sure exactly where he was or where he had to go to get where he wanted to. He pushed the doubt from his mind and started walking.

It wasn't long before he came to his street. "I guess I do know this place better than I thought," he said to himself. He walked up to the door of his house and put his hand on the doorknob. He hesitated a little, trying to prepare himself for whatever his brother would say when he walked in. He stood on the porch for a few minutes, afraid to move.

He slowly turned the knob, and opened the door carefully. He walked inside and looked around. The lights were on, but he didn't see anyone. Suddenly, he heard footsteps in the hallway. He turned his head, and sighed. It was Kankuro, and he had a relieved look on his face. Gaara gasped when he saw someone behind his brother. It was Lucretia.

Kankuro was relieved to see his brother.

"Why is SHE here!?" Gaara exclaimed.

"I…I was worried about you when you didn't show up for class, so I told my parents that I was going to Maggie's house for the weekend and came here to wait up for you," she said.

Kankuro watched her run past him and wrap her arms around his little brother. Kankuro smiled a bit, but quickly changed it to a scowl and said, "You should've come home sooner. I was so worried you weren't coming back."

Gaara looked at him, and Kankuro gasped at the murderous glance the red haired boy had given him. "I don't care," he snapped. He pushed Lucretia off of him and stormed off towards his room.

Kankuro could only watch helplessly as his little brother left the room, and left Lucretia standing there with a mix of fear and sadness in her eyes. He started to walk towards her, but hesitated. 'This kind of thing is what caused all this trouble in the first place,' he thought. 'I'd better go and check on him instead.' With that he shot her a sorrowful glance and turned to go after Gaara.

He reached Gaara's door, but it was locked. He pounded on the door and demanded that Gaara let him in. Gaara didn't respond. Kankuro growled with frustration and beat the door until it finally busted open. He charged into the room and grabbed his little brother by the collar of the shirt and lifted him up off the ground.

"What is your problem!?" he shouted at him. "She came here worried about you, and all you do is get mad at her before hearing what she wanted to say!"

Gaara struggled a little against his brother's grip. "She was here with you! I know it! I don't believe for one second that she came here for me!" he shot back.

Kankuro threw him down and glared at him. She WAS here for him, but some of the things they were going to tell him weren't exactly truth. The two of them decided that in Gaara's best interest, they would blame everything on himself, and make it look like he was the one that started everything, not her. It was unlucky that he saw them, but if they could twist the story right, they could make it believable enough to direct all his anger on Kankuro.

"Are you going to just stand there then?" Gaara snapped. He then stood up and charged at Kankuro.

Kankuro attempted to jump to the side to avoid him, but he was to slow. Gaara's small frame allowed him to be frighteningly fast. Before Kankuro could do anything, his brother was already on top of him, hitting him with all his strength. It wasn't long before he busted his nose. Blood flew, and Lucretia must have heard the shouting, for now she was standing in the doorway screaming at him to stop.

Gaara hesitated at hearing the fear in her voice, and Kankuro seized the opportunity to throw his brother off and pin him down. "Gaara stop!" he pleaded as the red haired boy struggled to retain control in the fight.

"Why?" he said calmly. Kankuro glanced down at him, and Gaara only looked up at him coolly. A sinister grin spread across his face as he said, "I'm going to kill you. Make you pay."

Kankuro's eyes widened in fear, but he shook it off and screamed, "Stop Gaara! I thought you weren't the monster you used to be!"

Gaara immediately went limp. Kankuro looked at his brother, breathing heavily. He had stopped smiling, and was staring straight through him, frowning a little. He laid there quietly for a few minutes, and eventually, a single tear flowed down his face.

"Gaara…"

Gaara turned towards the girl standing in the doorway, her makeup from her eyes running down her own face. He gathered his strength once more and pushed his brother off of him and sat up. Kankuro recovered and readied himself to jump on him again, but didn't move from his spot.

"I….I'm sorry…" he stammered, standing up carefully. He was shaking all over. He slowly walked over to Lucretia and sat with her, since she had collapsed to the floor since. He wrapped his arms around her. "I'm sorry," he repeated.

She looked up at him, and he could see that she had been crying a lot, her face and eyes red and irritated looking. He thought back to what Kankuro had said. "Monster" he had called him. After seeing the look on the girl's face, he couldn't deny it. Kankuro was right. He was turning into the monster he used to be, and he didn't want that. He wasn't close to anyone at all then, and both of his siblings were afraid of him. He knew Kankuro still feared him a little--he still locked his door at night--but, after Kankuro actually tried to get close to him, everything just seemed to get better for him.

Gaara turned to his brother, and Kankuro looked at him knowingly. He nodded at Gaara, got up, and left the room, leaving the two of them alone. He turned back to the girl in his arms. Though she was actually a few inches taller than him she seemed so small right now. She had finally stopped crying.

"I…I don't know what to do anymore," she told him.

Gaara sighed, knowing exactly what she meant. "I don't expect you to…to do anything really. After that, I…I don't think it would be right." He cursed inwardly. He wanted to be with her, but he knew that now, she would only be afraid of him.

"Don't say that. I know you're lying." She shifted a little and put her hands on the sides of his face. "I just…I'm so scared. I care about both of you. Not only that, but, we basically just met! If I had more time, maybe I could choose, or wouldn't have to, but right now...right now things are just getting worse and worse." She sighed and laid her head on his chest. "I don't think I can handle all of this."

Gaara rested his head on hers. "I'm sorry," he said again. He wished he could say something to make her feel better, make her forget what had just happened. "I think it would be better if I just backed out of this, right here, right now." It pained him to say it, but he knew that it would be for the best. He let go of her, and stood up. He sighed inwardly and walked out of the room, leaving her sitting on the floor.

He walked into the main room, where Kankuro was waiting nervously. He looked up as Gaara walked into the room, wanting to know what had been said and what had been decided.

"I…I'm going for a walk," Gaara said.

"Wait, what is going on now?" Kankuro pleaded.

"I'm giving this up. Go to her. I'm not the kind of person she needs to be around." He looked at the floor, and silently left.

Kankuro was a little confused at what his brother was saying, but he stood up and walked over to the room where everything had happened. He saw Lucretia still sitting where she had collapsed earlier. She was crying again.

"Lu…" he started. She quickly turned her head to look at him. "I…I don't know what's going on, but, I'm here for you." he said. 'That sounded really stupid,' he thought.

She jumped up and ran to him, wrapping her arms around him and kissing him lightly. He gave her a shocked look. "Wh-what? I thought that…" his voice trailed off. 'I'm giving up. Go to her. I'm not the kind of person she needs to be around.' His brother's words rang through his head, and made sense finally. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, kissing her on the forehead.

Gaara had made his way back to the park, and at this time of night, he was the only one there. He wandered around a bit before heading over to the bench where everything had started. He sighed, and sat down. "I wish things hadn't have gotten so complicated," he said. He looked around, and seeing no one anywhere near him, he laid down on his back and looked up into the stars. "I wonder what things would be like right now if nothing had happened. What things would be like if I hadn't have broken like that." He sighed again, and closed his eyes.

After only a few minutes, he felt someone's presence, and opened his eyes. He quickly sat up, and saw Lucretia sitting on the other end of the bench. "Wh-what are you doing here?" he stammered.

"I thought you might have come here. I wanted to talk to you." She scooted a little closer to him.

"About what? I already told you, I'm giving this up."

She looked at her feet, and then said, "I know. I just…I came to tell you that Kankuro and I…we've decided not to do anything until we've all known each other longer. It's too soon for things like this. I've thought back to everything that's gone on, and I can't believe all the things I did. It's not like me," she looked up to the sky and laughed a little. "I…it's like looking at someone else's life when I actually thought about it."

Gaara looked at her, and moved in a little closer. "You're shivering," he said calmly.

"I'm…a little cold I guess," she said looking at her feet again.

Gaara suddenly realized how cold he was. He didn't pay attention to it before, but it was kind of cold outside that night. He moved a little closer again and put his arm around her to try to keep her warm. He could feel her skin crawl a little at his touch, but that was understandable. Only about an hour before she had seen him go crazy and beat his brother until blood flew.

He started to recoil and remove his arm, but she reached up and took his hand. "No," she said, "it's okay. It helps get rid of the cold." She turned to him and smiled, but it looked forced to him.

"I am glad that you and Kankuro decided not to…to be together. But I don't think it will change anything," he said.

"I know, but, I think it's for the best at this point."

"No," he said. "I…it's not the best thing. You aren't going to change your mind, and I'm not going to change mine." He sighed slightly and continued, "Don't just delay what we both know is going to happen. It will only make things worse, I think."

The two of them looked at each other squarely in the eye for several minutes. Lucretia finally broke the silence and said, "Are you sure?"

Gaara paused for a short while. 'Am I sure?' he asked himself. He turned away from her and replied, "Yes." He then pulled his arm back and stood up. "I am sure," he said as he turned to leave, leaving Lucretia sitting on the bench by herself.

Lucretia was a little hurt by his coldness, but she knew everything he said was true. She was too afraid of him now, and wanted nothing more than to go back to Kankuro. She shook her head and stood up.

"It's just not right!" she screamed, with no one around anywhere to hear her. "It's not right…" she repeated as she collapsed onto the ground crying. She hated being in this position. She had no choice but to break at least one heart, and in the process, break her own no matter what she chose. Gaara had already chosen for her, but she didn't want to accept it. She was scared of him, but sacrificing himself like that instead of giving things time to settle down and make more sense made her mad at him.

She wiped her eyes and sat up. Lucretia was getting colder, and she needed to stop crying. She stood up, but hesitated before heading off in any direction. She wasn't sure where to go. 'Should I go to my house? I told my parents I was going to Maggie's though…' She decided she shouldn't go home. Not in the middle of the night like this. She couldn't go to Maggie's either, because they would be asleep by now, and she couldn't just knock on their door so late. Lucretia turned and headed back the way she came, towards the two brothers' house.

Kankuro sat in silence with his brother. He wasn't sure what had been said when Lucretia had met him in the park, but he knew they had talked, because Gaara mentioned it quietly when he came in. He hoped she wasn't still sitting out by herself in the park. Kankuro had gotten angry with his brother for leaving her out there by herself, in the cold and in the dark, but Gaara had said nothing to him after he had shouted. Kankuro started to drift off a little just sitting in silence like he was.

He jumped at the sound of a knock at the door, wondering who it could be at this time. He got up angrily and pulled open the door, immediately stopping when he saw Lucretia standing there looking up at him. "What are you doing back here?" he asked.

"I…I couldn't go home at this time of night, and I couldn't go to Maggie's either. I…here was the only place I could think of."

"Well, get in here before you get any colder," he told her. She nodded and stepped into the house.

He was happy to see her, but a little confused. "I thought we had decided to-"

"That isn't working, now, is it?" she said cutting him off. "No, waiting would be stupid. Nothing will be different if we do anyways." She looked past him to Gaara.

Kankuro scratched his head a little and turned to Gaara. "What did you say to her?" he asked.

Gaara said nothing. He silently stood and left towards his room. "I'm going to sleep," he said as he disappeared down the hallway.

Kankuro looked back at Lucretia, who had already sat down on the sofa. "So…we're going to just go out then or something?" he said, immediately cursing himself at sounding so stupid.

"I guess. I…it's what he wants. He told me that we shouldn't hold off, because it will only make things worse."

He walked over and sat down next to her, putting his arm around her. She was still cold to the touch from being outside for a while. She leaned her head on his shoulder, and he turned towards her. He reached over with his other hand and softly turned her face up to his. "We don't have to listen to what he says, you know," he said jokingly.

She just smiled and playfully elbowed him in the stomach. "Shut up, you."

He coughed a little, and then laughed.

The two of them fell asleep in each other's arms.

**Okay! So, this is the end of the chapters I already have written. BUT, this story is NOT done! Nope! I'm halfway through chapter 8. BUT, I have to warn you, don't get your hopes up...I've been working on that chapter for about a month and a half...I'm stuck in a serious rut...that and school is taking up most of my time. I will try to get it updated soon. Especially since I can't work on _Broken_ until I've finished chapter 8 for this one D:**

**Leave me some love, and I might work faster! grins**


	8. Regrets

**I don't own Gaara or Kankuro or Temari, but Lu is mine. Alice belongs to a friend of mine.  
**

Chapter 8: Regrets

Kankuro woke up to find Lucretia still sleeping quietly in his arms, her breathing slow and calm. Her face still had a red tinge to it from all of the crying from the night before. He carefully got up and laid her on the couch, not waking her. Memories of the day before came rushing back to him as he headed towards his room, passing his brother's. Kankuro paused in front of Gaara's door, realizing that, no matter what was said last night, he just couldn't accept that his brother would just give up like that. He knocked on the door tentatively, cracking it open. "Gaara?" he questioned. "Are you awake? I need to talk to you."

He heard somewhat of a grunt from the boy in the room, and assumed it was a "yes."

"Gaara…I don't know why you 'gave up' with Lu, but that…that was really selfish of you," he started.

Gaara turned towards his brother, his insomnia noticeable in his expression and pain and sorrow in his eyes. "What do you mean?" he asked innocently.

"I mean, she really cares about you, and though I hate to admit it, she cares more for you than me." Kankuro shuffled his feet a little, and looked away. It pained him to say that, but inside he knew it was true. He knew it from the beginning.

"How would you know?" Gaara shot back, his anger visibly rising. "As soon as we first came here, you two started talking almost immediately!"

Kankuro's face contorted with fury, but he kept his voice low as he hissed, "She was only doing that to try to get closer to you, and we both know it! And keep your voice down," he added, "Lu is sleeping still!" He could hear her stirring a little in the other room as he said that.

Gaara just looked at Kankuro, a little shocked. "I…I never thought of it like that. I guess it kind of makes sense…"

"Damn right, it does!" he snapped, still trying to keep his voice down. "And last night, although you scared her, she still wanted to try to be with you, and you just told her that you were backing out."

"For a good reason!" He stood up quickly and glared at Kankuro. "She's afraid of me, and it's too late to fix that!"

"If you would try, you might be able to!" Kankuro forgot that Lucretia was still sleeping and broke into a yell at this point. He was shaking and breathing heavily, and felt about to jump on his brother and pound him into the ground.

They heard a small gasp from behind them, and the two brothers turned to face Lucretia, standing in the hallway. Once again, she looked as if she was about to cry.

"Please stop fighting!" she managed to call out before she collapsed and began to bawl. Gaara was frozen in place, unable to move no matter how much he desired to run to the girl and comfort her. Kankuro, though, wasn't, and quickly ran to her side.

"Please don't cry, Lu," he heard his brother whisper to her.

'How long was she standing there?' Gaara thought. Forcing himself to move, he slowly made his way over to the girl and his brother. "Is it true?" he asked her.

"I-I don't know what you mean…" she started.

"Yes you do. You were already listening in when he said it." Gaara replied. Lucretia looked down and mumbled something unintelligible, and, slightly annoyed—though he hid it quite well—Gaara said, "You will have to speak louder than that, please."

"I…yes. Yes it is true. I'm sorry Kankuro."

"No, don't be. I knew what was going on…no matter what you had said last night. No matter what any of us had said last night." Kankuro shook his head and chuckled little, "Besides, there's definitely a bigger chance of me finding someone else that Gaara."

Gaara glared at his brother for a moment, because even though he had said it as a joke, it was the truth. He had enough trouble making normal friends to begin with, let alone finding someone that he'd allow to become close to him. All while they were growing up, it was always Kankuro who had all the friends. The only reason he had any semblance of friendship was because of his brother.

Kankuro always seemed to have the ability to make strong bonds with people unbelievably fast. It was obvious when he considered how he had basically instantaneously bonded with Lu. They had only known each other for a few days, and yet the three of them had already been through so many twists and turns that it had felt like months. He shuddered internally at the thought of what else could happen if so much had already happened so fast.

"No," he said, looking up at his brother and Lucretia. "No one is going to 'find someone else' at the moment. Things are moving at an alarmingly fast rate. The three of us need to slow things down before we make any decisions on anything of that sort."

Lucretia nodded in agreement, and Kankuro just grunted in acknowledgement.

"Why don't we spend the weekend together?" Lucretia suggested. "The three of us. I think it would do us all some good." She forced a wide smile onto her face and hoped they would agree. "We could go walk around the park, see a movie, go to the mall, anything! My parents aren't expecting me back until sometime tomorrow anyways."

"That sounds like a great idea," said Kankuro. "Mall sounds good to me. Plus," he added, "there's a theater in the mall in case we decide to go see a movie while we're there."

Gaara nodded, and then looked at Lucretia. "Your clothes look a little wrinkled. Do you need to change?"

She blushed a little, and then replied, "I don't have anything to change into."

"I could at least lend you a shirt," the pale boy responded before pulling open a drawer and tossing her a shirt. It was a faded black shirt that had a skull pattern on it in white and red; Lucretia saw it was about the same size as she would normally wear.

"Oh…uh, thanks." Lucretia made her way to the bathroom and shut the door. She stripped off her T-shirt, but paused before putting the other on. She looked at herself in the mirror. Her face was tinged red, her makeup completely gone. She suddenly felt very self-conscious, like it mattered that those two saw her without her makeup on. She shrugged it off, pulled Gaara's shirt over her head, and went to join the brothers, who had now gone into the living room.

"So, mall then?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah," replied Kankuro. "Too bad Temari's got the only car. We'll have to walk."

"That doesn't matter!" Lucretia stated, dancing over to the two boys to grab their hands and drag them to the door. She was excited about being able to spend the whole day with them, and couldn't wait to begin. She knew it would be somewhat of a lengthy walk to the mall, but that just gave them more time alone. In the mall, it wouldn't quite be the same.

Even though they had been walking together hand in hand for nearly half an hour, Kankuro still felt a little lightheaded, as if he was in some sort of ecstasy. Though Gaara was there; though he didn't know what would happen over the next few weeks, months, or even possibly years; though he might just be setting himself up for disappointment; Kankuro couldn't help but feel as if he was on top of the world. The more he thought about it, the more he realized he was going to be spending the entire day with his first crush. Back home, sure he had a myriad of fangirls, but the ones that weren't so terrified of his brother that they wouldn't get near him—which was very few—were either way out of what he considered to be an acceptable age range, or they somewhat liked his mysterious, psychotic brother. Not that any of them would have tried to do anything about it, but in the end, he never really developed those sorts of feelings towards anyone before. Not until he met Lucretia.

Said girl was currently dragging the two through the front doors of the huge shopping mall, somewhat pulling Kankuro out of his thoughts at the same time.

"I think one of my friends that goes to a different school is working today!" she squealed excitedly before pulling the brothers along even faster. "I know you guys will love her, She's almost exactly like me! If she is working, maybe we can get her to hang out with us on her break or something!"

Kankuro chuckled internally, wondering how entertaining this friend could be if she was "almost exactly" like her.

As they neared the store, Gaara started to feel a little unsettled. The merchandise he could see—from the outside—seemed to be similar to his own tastes, but the blaring music made his head hurt. His outward appearance may have been similar to the people who listen or even write) that music, but that didn't mean he ever listened to or liked it. As soon as they passed underneath the giant "Hot Topic" sign over the entrance, it only got worse. If not for Lucretia, he would most likely have never even stumbled into this store.

"ALICE!!"

Gaara was snapped out of his loathing of the music with a sharp, high pitched squeal from the girl who was previously holding his hand as she tackled another girl.

"Lu! I haven't seen you in forever!" Alice exclaimed, regaining her composure as she pried Lucretia off somewhat.

Gaara chuckled a bit to himself, before looking the girl over. Though it was obvious there was no relation, Lu did have a point in saying that the girl was almost exactly like her, at least in outward appearance. But, although they had a seemingly identical taste in fashion, Alice was a little more self-conscious looking, a little more feminine, as well as being somewhat more slender and delicate looking than Lucretia. She was wearing extremely dark blue skinny jeans that were just long enough to bunch perfectly around her ankles and the very red heels she had on. She also had on a red and black corset that was very lacey, and covered in straps and ribbons. Softening the look, though, she had an oversized dark gray and red jacket. Her hair, similar in color to Lucretia's, was pulled up into a high ponytail with a large red bow. She shared Lucretia's love for rings and bracelets, sporting a variety of black, gray, red, and white bangles.

"Soooooo, when do you go on break, Alice?" Lucretia asked impatiently.

"Well, actually, you missed my last break, but I get off in about 10 minutes," she responded nonchalantly. "Why don't you just hang around the store or something. I know you just _love_ trying stuff on." Alice chuckled lightly to herself. "You really should consider getting some of the stuff sometime though. You look so good in it!" she continued. "I keep telling you, boys will just be throwing themselves at you if you would," looking towards the two boys as she said this. Obviously, she had noticed them coming in with Lucretia.

Gaara glanced at his brother quickly. Kankuro looked a little flustered at Alice's statement, which amused him slightly, since his brother had already been so open about liking her before. Hell, he kissed her in the hallway at school! Gaara had no idea of why his brother was acting so slighted because of a small comment like that.

Lucretia childishly stuck her tongue out at her friend, who only giggled in return. "I've told you before, just because every other girl on this planet walks around with as much skin as possible showing to get a guy doesn't mean I will. Hell, think of the kinds of guys I'd get if I did that!" she said, crossing her arms. "I'd get labeled as a skank and get followed by dogs. I don't want that!" she huffed.

"Okay, okay," Alice responded, rolling her eyes. "Just get on with the trying on of random stuff like I know you love so I can finish my last few minutes of working." With that, Alice waved them off further into the store.

Lucretia wasted no time in gathering as many items of clothing as she could carry and sprinted off to the dressing rooms, calling to the two brothers to follow her. She quickly closed the door and began stripping as soon as she set the pile of clothing down. She had picked out some normal stuff, but also some pretty skanky looking stuff, just to see the brothers' reactions.

Chuckling to herself quietly, she slipped into a black and purple corset that was covered in chains, a black pleated miniskirt with purple and silver detailing, and a pair of black, thigh-high, clunky 4-inch heeled boots. The boots she actually debated splurging on, but she'd have to do so later. They were $150, and she had the money, but not with her. She loved the fact that they had lacings all the way up, and also straps and buckles with studs. Grabbing a black belt with chains and slipping it on quickly, she unlocked the door.

"You guys ready?" she toyed. She giggled as she received no response and then finally opened the door and walked out to face the brothers.

Kankuro immediately turned a thousand shades of red as the formerly tomboyish Lucretia appeared in the hottest outfit he ever had seen. His face became unbearably warm, and he quickly tried to hide it with nervous laughter. Lucretia smiled at him warmly, laughing a little herself.

"I wanted to see what you guys would think if I dressed like this," she said, beaming. She walked over to Kankuro and his brother slowly. "I see Gaara is just as expressionless as ever," she stated glancing at the boy, who, Kankuro could tell, was actually having a great internal battle at this point.

"And you," she said turning to Kankuro, "you are turning the funniest colors!"

He felt his face heat up more as she pointed this out. At a loss for words, he tried his hardest to stop staring. Unsuccessfully, of course. It wasn't long, though, before Lucretia laughed one last time, and headed back to the dressing room.

"So, how did you meet those two guys?" Alice asked while the two of them were at the sink. They had abandoned the two brothers for a few minutes to gossip some in the bathroom.

"Oh, well, they are new kids at my school," Lucretia explained. "They started a last week. We have all the same classes! It's so cool!"

"Cool," Alice grinned widely. "So, what about them, huh? Got a crush on them?" she teased.

"Shut up, Alice!" Lucretia said, blushing slightly.

"Oh, so you do, huh? Which one? Is it the cute redhead?" she questioned.

"I said shut up!" Lucretia blushed even deeper as she playfully pushed her friend.

"Or is it the other one? The one with the purple makeup?" Alice pressed. She seemed set on getting an answer out of the blushing girl standing next to her.

"I think they're both cute, but other than that, nothing is going on, okay!?" she said, a little irritated at this point.

"Okay, okay!" Alice replied, putting her hands up as if to defend herself. "I just wanted to know if the redhead was up for grabs."

"Gaara? Well," she hesitated a little, trying to think of what to say, "he…technically he is, I guess." Alice's eyes lit up a little at this. "But I'm not sure that's such a good idea," Lucretia mumbled to herself.

"Psh, what do you know? I'm going after him. I won't if you like him, but it's not like the other one doesn't like you though. I saw the look on his face when you came out in all those outfits," she teased. "He has the hots for you!"

Lucretia shoved Alice, a little less playfully this time. Her face was bright red, thinking of how Kankuro had pulled her aside in the hallway the other day and kissed her. "Shut up…fine, you can try to get Gaara. But if you make any more comments about Kankuro and me, I might just have to hit you harder." Both of the girls knew the threat was an empty one, because Lucretia would never seriously harm any of her friends. She kind of hoped Alice could get through to Gaara. It would solve a few problems, and it would be good for him too. Alice may have dressed a little bit skanky for a first meet, but that was just today. She was really a sweet and innocent person. At least, she was innocent in the physical sense of the word, Lucretia thought.

It took about 10 minutes, but it wasn't too long before Gaara saw the two girls coming out of the bathroom. He sighed a little in annoyance, but shrugged it off as the pair walked towards his brother and him.

"Hey, we should all go see a movie." Kankuro suggested, standing up and stretching a little. "What do you think, Gaara?"

"Yeah, sure," he replied. "As long as it's a good horror one and not some cheesy chick flick."

"Well," Alice said, turning to face him, "I'm not into horror that much, but I guess I could settle. I think a scary movie would be good anyways." She smirked a little, though Gaara couldn't figure out why.

"Let's go then!" Lucretia cheered. She and her friend grabbed the two brothers by the hands and dragged them to the movie theater.

"Four tickets to 'Halloween,'" Kankuro told the woman at the ticket counter. Thankfully, at least one of them was 17, so they could get the tickets.

"ID please," she responded in a bored tone. She glanced at his ID, and then quickly exchanged the boy's money for tickets.

The four friends walked further into the theater, heading towards the refreshments counter.

"You didn't have to pay for all off the tickets," Lucretia pouted. "I feel bad now."

"Tch, I don't mind. I may not have a car, but that doesn't mean I don't have money," the brown-haired boy replied.

"I still feel bad though!" she said. "I'm buying your food then, okay?"

Kankuro looked at the girl, who was literally begging to buy his snacks just because he paid for all the tickets. He sighed a little, aggravated that she wouldn't let him pay for things. "Fine, whatever."

"That's what I though!" she teased.

They all walked up to the counter, and Lucretia pushed her friends in front and told them to order. There was a small argument over not having Lucretia pay for everything; in the end, Alice and Lucretia split the cost of the drinks, popcorn, and whatever random candy that was picked out.

The group made their way into the theater, slipping into the dark room that was nearly empty. As they made their way to the seats, the two girls somehow managed to separate the boys. Lucretia was sitting in the middle of Kankuro and Gaara, and Alice was sitting on Gaara's other side.

The lights dimmed completely, and the movie began.

**WEWT. After a month and a half, I finally finished this chapter! And, they're gonna be seeing the _new Halloween_. The one by Rob Zombie. I've never seen it, nor do I plan to. So, whenever I get to the next chapter, there won't be any details in the movie. It will just be the character's thoughts and things like that. Well, I hope you all like **

**Next will be updating _Broken_, so if you're waiting for that, I'm gonna be working on it now!**

**AND, hit that little button that says "review"**

**you know you want to.**


	9. Options

**I don't own Gaara or Kankuro or Temari, but Lu is mine. Alice belongs to a friend of mine.**

Chapter 9: Options

A shrill scream filled Lucretia's ears, and she quickly latched onto Kankuro's arm. She had forgotten not only how jumpy she could be during movies, but also how she really did get frightened during movies like this. _Silent Hill_ was probably the only truly scary movie she had ever seen that didn't give her nightmares for weeks. Hell, _Poltergeist_ and _Pet Semetary_ chilled her so much she couldn't sleep for two or three days. Well, _Poltergeist_ hadn't really scared her, but that stupid clown-doll thing did. If it weren't for Kankuro, she would never be able to survive the movie, and she was probably spending that night at the two brother's house again anyways—her parents thinking she was still at Maggie's, of course. They trusted her with things like that well enough, since she never did anything wrong at all.

Kankuro thanked the darkness of the theater multiple times. Lucretia constantly jumping and latching onto his arm made him blush continuously, though he couldn't understand why. He didn't blush like this so much before. He thought it might have something to do with the outfits she tried on at Hot Topic, but it could also be the fact that every time he glanced over to check on Gaara to make sure he didn't get any…_ideas_ from the movie, Alice was latched onto him just like with Lucretia and himself. Kankuro could swear that he saw just the slightest hint of a blush on his little brother's face.

Gaara couldn't understand why this girl was attached to him like a leech, because she wasn't even watching the movie. He watched her some from the corner of his eyes, and she never once looked at the screen. She kept staring at him. Gaara shifted uncomfortably in his seat, wishing she would stop holding on to him like that. The whole situation gave him an odd feeling in the pit of his stomach; he didn't like it. He turned his head finally and looked Alice in the eyes. She flashed him a smile, and before he could pull away, she leaned forward and pecked him on the cheek.

This was just too much for him. His reaction was instantaneous: the red haired teen leaped from his seat screaming uncharacteristically and ran from the theater.

Kankuro couldn't believe what had just happened, and could much less comprehend it. It seemed as though Gaara got scared and bolted, but that was odd, since movies like this only either interested him thoroughly or made him laugh. It must have been something else. He knew he needed to go after him, but everyone was staring at him and the two girls that had made up their small group. Shrugging off the unrelenting gazes of the other moviegoers, Kankuro stood and motioned for the two girls to follow.

* * *

Lucretia wasn't sure what had happened, but it was apparent something was up as the three of them approached Gaara. The red haired teen was sitting on the floor in the hallway, curled into a ball and muttering to himself incoherently. Lucretia turned to Alice, who looked quite shocked. 

"What the hell did you do!?" she demanded in a low whisper.

Alice looked at her with apologetic shock. "I don't know! I just pecked him on the cheek real quick!"

"WHAT!?" Kankuro and Lucretia exclaimed simultaneously.

"Is there something wrong with that?" she asked, puzzled.

"To hell there is!" Lucretia started as Kankuro went over to comfort the shaking boy. "I knew it was a bad idea to agree to…" She paused and dropped her voice to a whisper. "I kissed Gaara once, and caught him off guard. He totally flipped and Kankuro had to calm him down. He doesn't know how to handle things like that."

"Damnit!" Alice shouted, hitting herself on the forehead. She walked over to Gaara and sat down with him. He acknowledged her presence, but wouldn't look at her.

"Gaara, look, I'm sorry about that…I didn't think it was that big of a deal…I mean, I think you're cute and Lu said you were single and—"

"Wait," Gaara broke from his silent delusion and glared at the girl sitting next to him. "You…no…no…this can't be true…it's all lies…all of it…you…you stay away from me." Gaara tried to back up, but he felt a hand grab his.

"No, you shouldn't be afraid," said a soothing voice. But he wouldn't look up to see whom it belonged to, though he could easily guess—even with his current state of mind. Before he could try to pull away, the owner of the voice pulled him into a warm embrace. For the first time in years, Gaara couldn't help himself; he broke down and just cried. He cried out all his past confusions, frustrations, fears…everything into Alice's arms. She held him silently as he cried, comforting him.

Kankuro looked to Lucretia, motioning for her to come with him. The two of them walked in silence for a bit, just trying to figure out what to say. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Lucretia spoke.

"I didn't think she would do that." She turned towards him, and he saw a pained look in her eyes. "I was hoping maybe…something would happen with them. Like, they would just click, you know?" She chuckled nervously and added, "She has better luck in things like that than I do anyways."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kankuro questioned.

"It's just…I mean…people don't…they don't like me. Or, rather, they very rarely do because of my…obscure personality. While others can get away with it and pull it off as 'cute,' they just all look at me like I'm crazy. I'm so glad to have met you and your brother, because to tell you the truth, it usually takes me months to open up to people and become friends with them. Not to mention the paranoia…" she mumbled the last part, and Kankuro could barely make out what she said.

"What the hell are you talking about? Who ever told you you weren't a likeable person? Hell, I like you, and we both know it. Apparently everyone else does, too," he mumbled the latter to himself. "What do you mean 'paranoia?'"

"Well…" Lucretia began, "I have this irrational fear that my friends aren't really my friends; that they're all fake, and would betray me in a heartbeat just to see me hurt." She blushed a little, and turned away from Kankuro.

He reached forward and took her chin in is hand, turning her face towards his. "Don't let that get to you," he told her. "And if anyone does happen to betray you like that, I'll not only kick their ass, but I'll be there for you no matter what." With that, he couldn't stop himself and pulled her face to his, giving her a light kiss.

Though they had agreed on not letting anything happen because of Gaara, he couldn't help but feel that with Alice in the picture now, he wouldn't have to back off like he had. Maybe if Alice got through to his little brother, Kankuro could get what he wanted for once. He had always lived somewhat in his brother's shadow. Though his brother was never sociable, Kankuro couldn't help but notice that he could have had normal friends and relationships if it weren't for Gaara spooking anyone who even considered him as a possible friend.

Lucretia couldn't help but notice the fluttery, yet comforting feeling that filled her as the brown-haired teen kissed her softly. Unlike any other kisses she had ever had—which would be playful, caring, or even romantic—this one was filled with promise. A wordless promise had passed between Kankuro and her with this simple kiss, a promise that was worth thousands of words. With this silent promise—and a shy intertwining of fingers—the newly recreated couple made their way back towards, hopefully, another newly formed couple.

* * *

She spotted Alice and Gaara now sharing the bench outside the movie theater. They were chatting a little, so that was a good sign. Lucretia's hopes soared. She turned to Kankuro, who silently returned her delighted gaze and squeezed her hand a little. Maybe things would all be okay. Gaara could have someone to open up to, Kankuro could have a relationship, and Lucretia would be able to have both boys happy without hurting herself in the process. 

"So, you guys cool now?" she asked as she approached her two friends.

"I had to talk with him about things a bit," she began, "but it didn't take long for him to see things my way," she finished with a subtle wink.

"Oh!" Lucretia giggled, "Well, I guess we should, I don't know, split up for a while to 'see things each other's ways'?"

Grinning wildly, Alice nodded. She grabbed Gaara's wrist and immediately led him off into the mall. He looked back to his brother, a confused look on his face. He and Lucretia just chuckled to themselves and waved him on, realizing he didn't catch her mock sexual innuendo. She didn't intend it to be taken like that, but it was still funny to her to joke like that.

Kankuro watched his poor brother being drug off by that overenthusiastic girl before turning back to the—in his opinion—beautiful girl attached to his arm. He liked having her on his arm like that, and the image it produced to others about the two. He was unsure of how things were, but if he wasn't considered her boyfriend now, it wouldn't be long.

"Shall we grab something to eat?" he asked, grinning widely. "All of this excitement has worked up my appetite."

"Sure!" Lucretia seemed to feel a bit hungry herself.

"Where would you like to go?" he questioned. "Anywhere in particular?"

"Nah, any place is good to me!" she exclaimed, smiling.

Kankuro sighed, "So you're going to make me pick, huh?"

"Yep! 'Cause I'm insanely indecisive!" Lucretia smirked at him, and dragged him to the food court.

* * *

Gaara couldn't help but feel a bit nervous at being dragged around by Alice. Though he had calmed down, he still wasn't sure what to think of her. She had claimed some similar things as Lucretia had a few days earlier, but that didn't comfort him any. After all, she had held feelings for both him and his brother. Granted, he had already pushed her from his thoughts as best as he could, but he still felt a bit jealous of his brother. But, in all sincerity, who wouldn't be jealous if their first crush was close to their sibling as well? It was perfectly normal. 

Perfectly normal? Gaara hadn't used those words to describe anything related to himself in years. Maybe this whole situation was a good thing…

Alice pulled Gaara from his thoughts when he heard her repeating his name.

"—aara? Gaara! Earth to Gaara!"

He looked at her, acknowledging her finally.

"Hey, you zoned out there for a second. You okay?"

"Yeah," he said, waving a dismissing hand. "What's up?"

"I asked you if you wanted to go to the arcade or something," she told him, rolling her eyes.

"Uh…yeah, sure."

She didn't hesitate as she grasped his hand and lead him off towards the arcade.

* * *

Lucretia worked hard to suppress a nervous laugh as she attempted to decide on what to order. The two had been standing in front of  
Chick-fil-A for several minutes, letting others ahead of them. 

"Damnit…I told you I'm indecisive…just…just freakin' order for me or something! I can't decide!" she finally exclaimed.

Kankuro just laughed at her and pulled her into the line with him, finally. "What do you want to drink, though?"

"Uh…tea!" she replied, grinning. "At least I can decide on that!"

The brown-haired teen smirked at her, and then ordered the two of them some regular meals.

The couple held up conversation easily while eating, enjoying each other's company. Lucretia guessed it was from the lack of tension between them that had finally been achieved with the possibility of Gaara and Alice being an item—hopefully. They sat and talked about anything and everything, even long after they had finished their food.

* * *

Gaara couldn't believe it. Why hadn't he ever discovered DDR before!? He was amazing, even on his first try. He could sense the large crowd that was now watching him, as well as the jealousy emanating from most of that crowd. There was no other way to describe it: he was a natural, a genius. 

Along with his fans, he could sense the mental fangirl drooling of Alice. Surprisingly to himself, he didn't mind this. He actually liked it, welcomed it, _wanted_ it. His mind went reeling. The redhead couldn't understand it; he had only just met the girl. The song ended, and he walked off of the platform, earning cheers—and some boos—from his fan crowd. He quickly grabbed Alice's hand and dragged her off.

"We need to talk," was all he said, his eyes focused straight through her. Alice followed in silence.

"What do we need to talk about?" she ventured as the two of them sat down in a secluded place in the mall—not an easy thing to find, as Gaara found out soon enough.

"Well, I don't know," he began. "I'm so confused right now. I guess I thought you might be able to help me out or something."

"Sure! Anything! I'll do whatever it takes to try to help you out."

"I…I'm not sure where to go with this," he admitted. "These are still new things for me Emotions, I mean. Well, emotions other than loathing and hatred. For as long as I could remember, I never really cared about anyone. I mean, I care about my brother somewhat now, but only somewhat recently, and only to a certain point. Then, Lu came along…and things went a bit haywire." He sighed and placed his head in his hands before continuing on. "I guess you could say she's my first crush—my first infatuation—but though that may not be a huge deal to others, for me it was. At first I was confused, but after I realized what was happening, I felt great. I felt…important."

"That's good," Alice stated. "You are important, Gaara. I'm sure many people would agree with me."

"Well," he sighed," you'd be wrong about that. There's Lu, Kankuro, possibly Temari—I'm not sure—and, well, you I guess."

"Of course and me!" Alice grinned and wrapped her arms around Gaara. "Though it may not be many people, it's still enough for you to exist for, to be happy about."

Gaara shifted a little in her embrace, but quickly returned it before returning to his task at hand: figuring out his emotions. "But, with all these feelings and emotion fluctuations, I'm not really sure what to think. The feelings I have for Lucretia aren't alone now. I get those feelings even when I'm not thinking about her or talking with her or something. I don't know why…"

"Well," Alice began, "when else do you get them?"

"Well, when we were in the theater, and then when I was sitting in the hallway outside the movie, and right now, I guess."

Alice grinned widely. "I knew it! I know exactly what it is!"

Gaara turned to her, startled. "What!? How? What is it then!?"

She beckoned him closer whilst smirking. Gaara leaned in closer, their faces mere inches from each other.

"You…" she began softly, so only he could hear her. "You…like…me!" She grinned and closed the gap between their two faces, pecking him on the lips.

This time he didn't pull away. This time he didn't freak out. The red haired teen did something neither of them expected: he grabbed Alice and kissed her fully.

* * *

Kankuro and Lucretia walked hand in hand through the mall, looking for the other couple in their group. It was about time to leave, and neither teen had yet to be found. They had been practically everywhere, except the arcade and its corresponding end of the mall. That being the only place left, the couple headed in that general direction. 

It wasn't long before the stumbled upon the two, sitting in a secluded corner. Neither raised their voices, though. Both wanted to see what would happen. But, when Alice pecked Gaara on the lips, and he grabbed her and practically almost made out with her in return, Lucretia couldn't help herself.

"OH…MY…GAWD!" she screeched.

The two looked at her, startled. Gaara began to blush slightly.

"It…is…so…CUTE!" Lucretia began squealing and jumping around towards their general direction. She glomped both of them together, overly excited about what had just happened."So! You guys going out now or something!?"

Gaara blushed deeper and glanced towards Alice. She gave him the "I'm okay with it if you're okay with it" look, and Gaara nodded to Lucretia.

"This is so awesome!" she shrieked. Realizing how loud and girly she was being, she blushed and apologized to them. "Sorry, I was just really excited. I'm glad you two are together. Even if it is a bit weird and rushed; you've only known each other for less than a day. But, hell, it can happen, right?"

The four of them couldn't help it at this point: they all broke out laughing. They left the mall still laughing a bit, and with farewells to Alice, headed back to the brothers' house. Today had certainly been interesting.

* * *

**WEWT chapter 9 is done! sadly, this is the end of this fanfic. but! i am gonna write an epilogue! it will be about their prom-night! nothing dirty, sheesh...but just good-natured "awwwww so cute" love**

**review please! you know you want to!**


	10. Epilogue

Epilogue

Lucretia glanced at the clock for the umpteenth time. She had spent the whole day preparing for tonight, and she still wasn't done. Surprisingly enough, this had nothing to do with her hair even. Ever since her one-year anniversary with Kankuro, she had kept her hair short. She had asked him if he minded her having short hair, after all she had been growing it out the whole time they had been dating, and most guys had something against short hair. She was overjoyed when he told her she could shave her head bald and he wouldn't care—as long as she didn't become a skinhead, that is. She had been getting increasingly annoyed with her hair, and wanted nothing more than to chop it to an inch long and spike it.

On the day of their one-year anniversary—which they counted from that day in the mall so long ago, coincidentally the same day as her good friend Alice's and Kankuro's brother Gaara's relationship began—the two of them went out for a "makeover" of sorts. Kankuro was going to get a tattoo—or three. He now had small, but highly detailed tattoos of a crow on his left bicep, a salamander on his right shoulder-blade, and a black ant on the inside of his right wrist.

Lucretia wanted to get a tattoo, but her parents wouldn't let her. She settled for a nose piercing on the right side and two lip rings on the left side—venombites, more specifically.

Afterwards, Kankuro brought her to a hair salon—his treat, and a surprise gift. He told her to do whatever she wanted with her hair, and to just not care about her parents' opinions. Which is precisely what she did. She nearly cried as she saw the hair fall after years of growing it out, but in the end she was glad that she would be able to fix her hair in five, ten minutes tops.

After the cut, she had them dye the remaining hair black, and then go back and bleach the tips. She then chose a mixture of neon green and dark purple dye over the tips. For once in a long time, Lucretia was actually happy with her hair.

Kankuro wasn't finished with his presents, however, and brought her to Hot Topic to buy a whole new outfit; shoes, accessories, and all. Luckily, he had started working shortly after the whole mall fiasco. Since he didn't have to stay with Gaara 24/7 anymore, he had time to find a job to work for some extra spending money.

Lucretia objected at first, not liking anyone spending so much money on her, but with his persistence, it was hard to deny him. So, after much cackling and trying things on, Lucretia ended up with a pair of Anarchic Black Studded Buckle Robot Boots, a black Tripp brand miniskirt, neon purple fishnets, a neon green and black corset, a black kitty-eared hoodie (to match Kankuro's), several random bracelets, a spiked choker, black fishnet arm-warmers, and—her favorite part—a pair of Gothic ' CYBERPUNK' Industrial Goggles. She was overjoyed to the point of being reduced to squeezing the life out of her boyfriend and squealing like an insane fangirl.

Lucretia turned back to the mirror and adjusted her goggles once again, making sure they were positioned just right. She had worn them as a headband nearly every day since then. She was even going to wear them to prom. Her parents weren't too thrilled, but she was dressing in a style of cyberpunk mixed with rivethead. With her Anarchic robot boots, her CYBERPUNK goggles, a black corset and knee-length pencil skirt slit up the left side to mid-thigh—both with purple and neon green detailing—and topping it off with a black military-style blazer with sliver studded detailing, she definitely had a different look than the rest of the people that she'd see soon enough at the large event. Kankuro was even joining her quirky sense of style with wearing a military-style inspired outfit, all black and silver with a bit of crimson. To top it all off, the couple planned to wear purple face paint in the traditional kabuki-style pattern the strange boy had used before he moved to Texas.

The doorbell rang, and Lucretia quickly added the finishing touches to the purple lines streaking across her face. She ran down the hall, her boots clunking loudly. Throwing open the door, the couple exchanged looks and quickly embraced before calling hello and goodbye to Lucretia's parents. They rushed out the door and to the boy's car before they could be stopped for an extensive photo-session. They had to meet Gaara and Alice in thirty minutes for dinner, and had no time to waste. Gaara didn't like people to be late, and Lucretia wouldn't stay for pictures even if she did have time.

Gaara waited patiently on the couch in silence. He could feel the tension in the room emanating from her parents. They had never really approved of the small-framed, quiet, excessively pale boy, but they would never deny their daughter's happiness she felt while being with him. Dressed all in a black Zoot Suit, very gothic boots—somewhat similar to Lucretia's—and a black Fedora with an intricate skull-like pattern on the left side, and topping it all off with his black eye makeup, the tattoo on his forehead, and that black and chrome motorcycle sitting in the driveway, Alice's parents were slightly upset. This was their daughter's big night, however, and they wouldn't ruin things for her by saying or doing anything now.

It took longer than he expected, but not too much time had passed before his girlfriend finally came from her room. She was dressed in a simple strapless corset-dress. The dark red was offset with details of black and silver beading. Along the bottom of the slightly full skirt, many beads were sewn in various patterns, and from one group of swirls and flowers, a snakelike dragon erupted and twisted across the side and front of the dress. Her hair was pulled into an updo, several strands individually braided or twisted and wrapped into a messy bun. She left her bangs down, keeping the sophistication of the bun cute and young. She wore strappy black flats, since Gaara himself was still quite short.

The redhead stood silently, and extended his hand to take hers. She squealed a little, and he lead her out the door towards his motorcycle.

After dinner, the two couples headed off to the school. Such a large school had the facilities to hold an immense amount of people. The music was already blaring by the time they entered; people were dancing and (much to Gaara and the girls' disgust) grinding everywhere. They joined the crowds, ready to party.

This was one of the best nights of the four friends' lives.

* * *

**no, that does not mean they did the nasty.  
they just had a good time. gaw.  
DONE. this story is over. FINITE. bye bye now**


End file.
